According to Kommersant, citing American media data, negotiations between the head of the Pentagon Lloyd Austin and his recently appointed German counterpart Pistorius concerned the supply of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.
At the same time, Austin made great efforts to convince Pistorius to authorize the deliveries.
The heads of the military departments held talks on the eve of the NATO summit, which is scheduled for January 20. It will be held at the American Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
A number of officials in the United States expressed great hopes for the outcome of this meeting, but a number of members of the American cabinet were dubious about the possibility of convincing their German colleagues of the need to send new heavy equipment to Kiev.
The German authorities persist in their unwillingness to yield to US pressure on the military issue, which causes irritation in The Pentagon.
The principled position of Germany was that the German authorities refuse to supply Ukraine has its Leopard tanks on Ukraine until the United States agrees to transfer its Abram tanks to Kiev. In the USA, they object under the pretext that the maintenance of their heavy equipment is very expensive.