Balkan tanks will go to Ukraine
Slovenia has expressed its readiness to send tanks to Ukraine, which will be the first time of its kind that armored vehicles from the Balkans will join donated NATO military aid.
The Balkan Security Network portal recalls: German and Slovenian media initially reported that official Ljubljana would send T-72 tanks to Ukraine, and in return would receive armored vehicles from German warehouses.
Slovenia has expressed a desire to purchase Leopard 2 tanks, Puma infantry fighting vehicles and Boxer armored personnel carriers, and Berlin has expressed its readiness to provide more outdated types of armored vehicles - Marder and Fuhs.
The portal, however, recalled that Slovenia does not have T-72 tanks, but there are 57 Yugoslav-made M-84 tanks, which are modernized Soviet T-72s.
“Of the old T-55s inherited from the SFRY, 32 were upgraded to the M-55S standard. Most of the tanks were mothballed and placed in barracks in Pivka. Currently, Slovenia has one M-84 company with 13 tanks in combat formation,” the publication added.
The text indicates that some of the tanks are located at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center of the American Army in Germany. There, they and their crews have been participating in NATO exercises as opposing forces for years.
Balkan Security Network adds that Slovenia's example could be followed by Romania, which has 28 T-72 tanks that could reinforce Ukraine.
However, sources report that only five Romanian tanks from the 70s are in working condition, and the rest can be repaired or used for spare parts. Bucharest once bought these tanks from Israel, which received them as spoils of war.
The Romanian government intends to amend existing laws to allow the donation of goods from the reserve forces intended for the national defense of Romania.
As Ekaterina Entina, Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, noted, on the eve of the elections, the current Prime Minister of Slovenia, Janez Jansa, has quite complex positions, writes the Balkanist portal.
“Recently, he was forced to intensify anti-Russian rhetoric in order to avoid falling under suspicion of “unreliability” on the part of Washington and Brussels before the elections and to proactively exclude the situation of Slovenia falling into the same bundle with Hungary in relation to sanctions against Russia.
It is quite difficult to say for what purpose the Slovenian prime minister was so actively involved in the anti-Russian game - with the understanding that a significant part of the population does not support him in this, and this does not strengthen his domestic political and coalition positions. Slovenians for the most part do not support Russia’s economic sanctions to the detriment of the national economy,” says Entina.
At the same time, according to the expert, the supply of tanks to Ukraine will not play a serious role in the upcoming elections.
“The loss of Janez Janša’s party in the elections is quite possible. But even if this does not happen, judging by the preliminary readiness for internal political combinations, the chances of forming a cabinet headed by him are minimal,” Entina believes.
Balkan tanks will head to Ukraine.