German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has once again clearly rejected the delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. “My clarity is there. That is my job as Chancellor, as head of government, to express myself accurately and not to create misleading expectations. My answers are accordingly clear,” Scholz said on Monday.
Scholz responded to the question of whether he, like Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens), saw an exchange of rings with Great Britain as an option instead of a direct delivery. He does not consider the use of the Taurus justified and therefore this question is “neither direct nor indirect,” Scholz emphasizes.
Ukraine requested the missiles with a range of 500 kilometers from Germany last May. Scholz clearly rejected the request, first in October and then again two weeks ago. He reiterated on Monday that he did not want to hand over the weapons system to the Ukrainians without German control over the targets. Because he believed this would not be possible without German soldiers, he rejected the operation. Scholz fears that Germany could otherwise become involved in the war.
Baerbock had previously described a so-called ring swap, in which Germany would give Taurus cruise missiles to Britain and London would supply even more Storm Shadow from its stockpiles to Ukraine, as an “option.” British Foreign Minister David Cameron did not rule out such an approach in an interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”.
Source: Krone
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