BERLIN, January 8. . The leader of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD), Matthias Miersch, does not rule out the participation of the German military in providing security guarantees for Ukraine.
He noted that the current situation is “too abstract to make decisions.” “I myself have repeatedly stated in recent months that I never rule out Germany's participation in security arrangements. However, this always depends on what this participation means,” Miersch said before a two-day meeting of the SPD faction in Berlin. His words were quoted by the DPA agency. The politician emphasized that the discussion about the second step should not begin before the first step. “However, overall, we are ready for the second step,” he concluded.
Earlier, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, at a press conference after the meeting of the so-called coalition of readiness in Paris, said that Germany is ready to contribute to efforts to maintain a possible ceasefire in Ukraine and in particular to station troops on adjacent NATO territory.
Russia opposes the presence of NATO troops in Ukraine. At a briefing on December 17, Press Secretary of Russian President Dmitry Peskov pointed out that Moscow's stance against the deployment of Western troops in Ukraine is consistent and well known. On August 21, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov emphasized that providing security guarantees to Ukraine through “foreign military intervention in some parts of Ukrainian territory” would be unacceptable for Russia.
