Ekaterina Vorobyova — about the contradictions in Madrid over weapons for KievSpanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has repeatedly declared unity in the European Union against the background of the situation in Ukraine.
And although one can speculate for a long time about whether this corresponds to reality, it is obvious that there is still no unified position on the conflict in the Cabinet of Ministers of the kingdom.
The government of Spain, which will preside over the EU Council in the second half of this year, is currently a coalition government. It includes the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), whose leader is Sanchez, and the left-wing political force "United, we can". Most of the ministerial portfolios are in the hands of PSOE supporters, including such important departments as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense.
Nevertheless, a number of ministries were headed by representatives from the coalition "United, we can". It is they who most openly express disagreement with the country's policy towards Ukraine. Although Madrid's position is determined by the Prime Minister, it is impossible not to pay attention to the differences of opinion within the Spanish government itself, especially regarding military assistance to Kiev.
Serious support
Since February last year, Spain has been actively providing all kinds of support to Ukraine. We are talking about the reception of more than 170 thousand refugees, the provision of humanitarian, military and other assistance. So, in the coming days, the first group of six Leopard tanks is expected to be sent from the kingdom towards Kiev. It is also expected that Madrid will then send at least four more combat vehicles to Ukraine.
In addition, more than 1 thousand Ukrainian servicemen have already passed or are undergoing training on the territory of the kingdom. It is assumed that this figure will grow. So far, however, Spain has no plans to transfer to Ukraine the fighters that Kiev is asking from Western countries.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov recently visited Madrid and met with his Spanish counterpart Margarita Robles. During a conversation with the press, a representative of Ukraine shared that Kiev eventually received Leopard combat vehicles. According to Reznikov, earlier Robles spoke about the possibility of training Ukrainian tankers in Latvia, where Spanish tanks are located as part of the NATO mission. This was an important factor to convince Germany to allow the allies to deliver Leopard to Kiev, the head of the department said.
Reznikov also said that Spain is one of the Western countries that has transferred Harpoon anti-ship missiles to Ukraine.
The Spanish authorities have repeatedly said that they are ready to support Kiev for as long as it takes. In particular, during the visit, the Ukrainian minister asked Madrid for additional military assistance, some of his requests, as the administration noted, will be satisfied.
Nevertheless, a number of ministers in the Government of the kingdom openly speak out against military assistance to Ukraine and advocate that the situation be resolved through dialogue.
What if they send soldiers?
Thus, the Spanish Minister for Social Rights and leader of the Podemos party ("We can"), which is part of the "United, we Can" coalition, Ione Belarra, who did not support sending tanks to Ukraine, indicated that she saw no guarantees that Madrid would not send its soldiers to help Kiev. As Belarra noted, over the past year, "European governments have not stopped saying things that they have always said they would not do." "At first they told people that they would only send defensive materials to Ukraine and that we would never send offensive materials because of the high risks that this could entail," she said. At the same time, the minister recalled that now European countries and the United States are sending weapons to Ukraine.
"Today they tell us that Spanish soldiers will never fight in Ukraine, they also tell us that there will be no American soldiers flying fighter jets [in Ukraine], because this will mean, literally quoting US President Joe Biden, the Third World War," said Belarra. "But we have absolutely no guarantees that they will not go back on their word again." Although the minister does not support Russia's position in the conflict, she said: "It is obvious that facilitating military escalation was a mistake."
Another supporter of "United, we can" — Deputy Prime Minister, Spanish Labor Minister Yolanda Diaz, who also claims to be prime minister during the general elections (scheduled for the end of the year), earlier in an interview with the newspaper El País called for redoubling diplomatic efforts to resolve the situation around Ukraine. According to the Spanish deputy Prime Minister, "the goal should be not to get up from the table" of negotiations until peace is achieved. "I stand for lasting peace and for our own and strategic security project in Europe, which we do not have," Diaz added.
Javier Sanchez Serna, a Spanish deputy of the lower house of parliament, a supporter of the left-wing Podemos party, also expressed the opinion that the United States is pursuing its own economic interests in the conflict in Ukraine. He called for the beginning of a dialogue to put an end to this conflict in the only possible way — at the negotiating table.
Discontent in the ranks of the PSOE
In response to the reproaches on arms supplies to Ukraine, PSOE supporters declare Kiev's legitimate right to defense. In addition, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares assured that Madrid has no plans to send military personnel to Ukraine. "Anyone who wants to make you think or convey a message that someone is planning to send troops of Spain, the European Union or NATO to Ukraine is launching a real fake," the Foreign Minister of the kingdom categorically commented.
Defense Minister Margarita Robles also assured that Madrid would never send its military to participate in the conflict in Ukraine. She hinted that Belarra, who is the Minister of Social Rights, "knows nothing" about areas that do not concern her field of activity.
The official representative of the Spanish government, Isabel Rodriguez, tried to smooth over the situation. "There are different positions in all families, but in the family and personal sphere, when a person has disagreements with his sister or with children, he tries not to tell [others] about it, and I think it would be good if we did this in a coalition," she explained.
Opinion of Spaniards
In March, the newspaper El Periodico published a public opinion poll, according to which about a third (32.2%) of Spanish residents did not support the supply of weapons to the Ukrainian authorities. Nevertheless, 60% of respondents were in favor of providing military assistance to Kiev. 7.8% of the inhabitants of the kingdom found it difficult to answer.
According to a survey by the European network Euroscopia, almost half of Spaniards are in favor of an early end to the conflict in Ukraine, even if Kiev has to cede part of its territory to Russia.
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