MOSCOW, Jan 25 (AFP) - Russia reacted with fury on Wednesday to Germany's decision to approve the delivery of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, saying Berlin was abandoning its "historical responsibility to Russia" arising from Nazi crimes in World War Two.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a Telegram post that the move was confirmation of Germany's involvement in "a war planned in advance" against Russia.

The Russian embassy in Berlin said the decision - which paves the way for other NATO members also to send German-made tanks - would escalate the 11-month conflict in Ukraine, which Moscow casts increasingly as a perilous face-off between Russia and the U.S.-led alliance.

"This extremely dangerous decision takes the conflict to a new level of confrontation," Ambassador Sergei Nechayev said. He added it would cause "irreparable damage to the already deplorable state of Russian-German relations".

There was no immediate reaction from President Vladimir Putin, who shortly after the announcement took part in a long televised meeting with students but referred only briefly to the "complicated" security situation facing Russia.

Kyiv and its Western allies say Russia's invasion of Ukraine, launched on Feb. 24 last year, amounts to an unprovoked war of aggression aimed at seizing territory. Moscow says the West is using Ukraine to weaken Russia's own security.