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WARSAW, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Poland's prime minister said on Tuesday he was concerned by Germany's reaction to Russia's military buildup on Ukraine's border, after a report that Germany was blocking NATO ally Estonia from giving Ukraine military support.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Berlin was refusing to issue permits for German-origin weapons to be exported to Ukraine as it braces for a potential Russian invasion.
"I observe with concern the situation in Ukraine and the reactions of our neighbours from Germany in the face of the threat from Russia," Mateusz Morawiecki wrote in a Facebook post.
"A great disappointment is, among other things, Germany withholding its consent for the supply of weapons from Estonia to a state that is preparing to defend itself against an aggressor."
Latvian Defence Minister Artis Pabriks was quoted by the German daily Bild as saying Berlin's policy on weapons for Ukraine was "a big mistake".
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said his country has not supported the export of weapons in recent years. A German government spokesman did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Poland has long urged Germany to take a tougher stance towards Russia, particularly as regards the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.
Some central and eastern European countries think the pipeline will give Russian President Vladimir Putin a lever to exert undue influence on western and central Europe.
Morawiecki said the "black scenario" that Poland had been warning about was now arriving, and that the construction of Nord Stream 2 and Russia's "gas blackmail" were giving Putin "the tools to terrorise other European countries".
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said this week https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/germany-signals-it-could-halt-gas-pipeline-if-russia-invades-ukraine-2022-01-18 that the pipeline, which is finished but has not yet secured approval to open, would boost European energy security, and that "attempts to politicise this project" would be counter-productive.
The U.S. State Department has cleared Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to send U.S.-made missiles and other weapons to Ukraine.
(Reporting by Alan Charlish and Pawel Florkiewicz in Warsaw, Madelaine Chambers and Andreas Rinke in Berlin; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
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