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BERLIN/ATHENS (dpa-AFX) - The German government is continuing its efforts to quickly transfer 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine. According to reports from Athens, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) also spoke with her Greek counterpart Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos, who has been promised 40 Marder from German industrial stocks as part of a so-called ring swap.

Business Insider reported Tuesday that the conversation was about Greece being able to do without half of the 40 Marder for the time being. The country would then receive these infantry fighting vehicles later, but Ukraine would receive them in the first quarter. There was no confirmation of an agreement on such a course of action either in Berlin or in Athens on Tuesday.

Already in the summer, the manufacturer Rheinmetall had offered 100 of the infantry fighting vehicles for Ukraine. Following the commitment to Greece, 60 Marder from this stock are still to be obtained in principle. The Ministry of Defense is also considering a transfer from Bundeswehr stocks. However, Lambrecht had practically ruled this out as recently as December.

A possible delay in delivery is a delicate matter for Athens, because parliamentary elections must be held in the EU country by July at the latest. The opposition, led by the Left Party under Alexis Tsipras, has criticized the ring swap, in which Greece gives the BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle to Ukraine and receives Marder. The swap weakens Greece's defenses in light of ongoing tensions with Turkey over sovereign rights and natural gas in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean, opposition sources say. A delayed delivery could put head of government Kyriakos Mitsotakis in a bind.

In the current RTL/ntv trend barometer, 56 percent of the German citizens surveyed think that the decision of several states to deliver infantry fighting vehicles is correct, while 38 percent are against the delivery. In eastern Germany, a slight majority (52 percent) is against this step in military aid. According to the survey, the delivery of infantry fighting vehicles meets with the greatest approval among supporters of the Greens (85 percent) and the FDP (82 percent), and the lowest among supporters of the AfD, almost all of whom (93 percent) oppose the delivery. Furthermore, a majority of citizens (55 percent) oppose the delivery of modern Leopard battle tanks./cn/DP/jha