VIENNA, July 7. /TASS/. Germany will continue to abide by the Convention on Cluster Munitions and refrain from sending the weapons to Kiev, Reuters quoted German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock as saying in Vienna on Friday.
Her remark came a day after US officials said the Biden administration was planning to provide Ukraine with the munitions.
"I have followed the media reports. For us, as a state party, the Oslo agreement applies," Baerbock told reporters, when asked to comment on Washington’s plans regarding cluster munitions for Kiev. Germany’s top diplomat is taking part in the OSCE High-Level Conference on Climate Change being hosted by the OSCE secretary general in Vienna.
German Foreign Minister Boris Pistorius also opposed sending cluster munitions to Kiev at a news conference in Bern. "Germany has signed the convention, so it is no option for us. As for those countries that have not signed the convention - China, Russia, Ukraine and the US - it is not up to me to comment on their actions," Reuters quoted Pistorius as saying.
On Thursday, a number of Western media, including the New York Times, Reuters, and CNN, reported that a decision was made to send cluster munitions to Ukraine and that the announcement will be made on Friday, July 7. The Pentagon said later that the United States was poised to provide Ukraine with cluster munitions that pose the least threat to the civilian population.
When detonated, cluster munitions scatter dozens of small bomblets over a large area. If unexploded, these bomblets will present a threat to civilians for years to come.
The Convention on Cluster Munitions was signed by 123 countries in the Norwegian capital in 2008 and took effect on August 1, 2010. By now, 110 countries have ratified it. In Europe, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, and Ukraine have not signed the document.
According to Human Rights Watch, the real dud rate of cluster munitions is often way higher than formally declared by the military, potentially leading to numerous casualties among the civilian population.