Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles assured this Sunday that no troops from NATO countries, including Spain, will participate in the war in Ukraine.
In response to warnings from government partner Podemos that the escalation of the war could lead to the sending of Spanish troops to Ukraine, Robles was blunt.
“This is an absolutely impossible scenario; does not exist. Spanish soldiers would only intervene if there was aggression against a NATO country.” said in an interview with the newspaper La Vanguardia, quoted by the Spanish agency EFE.
“Never, never will troops from any NATO country, and Spain is one of them, participate in the war in Ukraine. Never, never. I want to say it very clearly, very clearly,” he insisted.
Robles invoked Article 5 of the NATO treaty (the acronym for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, with 30 members, including Portugal) to emphasize that “a member state shall only intervene if another member state is attacked and asks for help”.
“Before speaking, it is necessary to know the NATO treaty,” he said.
As for the Leopard tanks that are out of service in Spain, Robles said that “very little had been invested in defense during the years of the Popular Party government” and said the tanks in question are being repaired.
He said he hopes the repairs will end soon so they can be integrated into a battalion of tanks donated by other nations.
Meanwhile, training is underway for the Ukrainian army that will operate the tanks, as well as those responsible for maintaining the German-made equipment.
“I would like to point out that leopards have only one purpose: defense, never aggression against Russia,” he said.
The Spanish minister lamented that “a very bloody spring” is expected in Ukraine, with the possibility of new offensives on both sides, stating that it was not only a war between armies, but also against Ukrainian citizens.
“They are being slaughtered,” he said.
The number of civilian and military casualties from the conflict is unknown, but several sources, including the UN, have admitted it will be high.
At the end of last week, the UN had confirmed the deaths of 8,006 civilians and the existence of 13,287 wounded.
Robles was skeptical of any possible peace negotiations, as Russian leader Vladimir Putin “has made it very clear, beyond any doubt, that he wants to continue this war”.
He said he still had no data predicting whether the conflict would turn into nuclear war, but he believed a “terribly dramatic point for humanity” would not be reached.
Putin ordered the invasion on February 24, 2022 to “demilitarize and denazify” the neighboring country.
The “special military operation,” as Moscow calls it, sparked a full-scale war that plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
Ukraine’s western allies celebrated the first anniversary of the war on Friday by announcing increased military aid to Kiev and new sanctions against Moscow.
Source: DN
