The American government gives Germany the freedom to choose which weapons it wants to supply to Ukraine.
With this statement, the spokeswoman for the National Security Council in Washington reacted to a report by the FAZ.
Konrad Schuller
Political correspondent for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper in Berlin.
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Several sources had reported to the FAZ that Sullivan had said this to the Chancellor's foreign policy adviser, Jens Plötner, on the phone in October.
He added that America's agreement to the supply of German tanks does not mean that Washington is asking Berlin to do so.
Sullivan's spokeswoman Adrienne Watson responded to the FAZ report with a statement in which she did not confirm American support for the supply of German Leopard tanks, but did not deny it either.
She writes verbatim: "We leave that to the Germans and do not address any requests to them".
America appreciates the security policy support that Germany has already given Ukraine.
This includes rocket artillery, anti-aircraft defense and ammunition.
A spokesman for the federal government had previously neither confirmed nor denied Sullivan's message to Plötner when asked.