German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Sunday that his country should accept the US decision to supply Ukraine’s army with cluster munitions, even though his country is a party to the Oslo Convention and stands by fixed against their use.

“The German position against cluster weapons is as justified as ever,” but “in the current situation, we cannot stand in the way of the US,” Mr. Steinmeier said in a broadcast on German public broadcaster ZDF.

The current president of the Republic was the one who signed the Oslo Convention, which bans cluster weapons, in 2008, when he was the foreign minister of Angela Merkel’s coalition government.

“I am biased” on this issue, he noted.

Neither Russia nor Ukraine has ratified the convention.

Both countries have reportedly used cluster weapons in the war that broke out in February 2022.

Mr. Steinmeier, who when he was head of German diplomacy had made efforts to increase cooperation with Moscow, also pointed out that the conclusions have now been drawn from the armed conflict that is about to complete 17 months.

“This means, unfortunately, that security in Europe in the future will not be shared with Russia, but that we will take precautions against each other — with huge spending in our defense budgets, in order to protect Europe, as part of alliance [του NATO] and for the protection of our own population here in Germany.”