Scholz fears complicity if Germany supplies Kiev with Taurus missiles
3 Min Read
Britain and France have already committed to supplying long-range missiles to Ukraine.
-
A Taurus long-range air-to-surface missile (AFP)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reiterated on Monday his reluctance to supply Taurus long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine, citing concerns over the potential of Germany becoming directly involved in the conflict.
Fearing an all-out escalation, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been trying to resist all domestic and foreign pressure to aid Ukraine with the long-range Taurus although Germany has been the second biggest donor of military assistance to the ex-Soviet nation.
At an editorial conference of the German news agency DPA, Scholz explained he has not definitively ruled out delivery but expressed reluctance in doing so to avoid the risk of escalating the war or dragging Germany and NATO into it.
Meanwhile, the UK and France have already committed to supplying long-range missiles to Ukraine, namely Storm Shadow and Scalp long-range missiles respectively.
"What is being done in the way of target control and accompanying target control on the part of the British and the French can’t be done in Germany. Everyone who has dealt with this system knows that," Scholz said.
Read more: EU will need to send 20% of defense spending to Ukraine if US cuts aid
When questioned about concerns regarding the potential deployment of German soldiers to Ukraine to manage the targets of the missiles, Scholz said that "German soldiers must at no point and in no place be linked to targets this (Taurus) system reaches," and added, "not in Germany either."
He indicated that there are valid reasons why the missiles are not the immediate priority on the agenda.
"This clarity is necessary. I am surprised that this doesn't move some people, that they don’t even think about whether, as it were, a participation in the war could emerge from what we do," he said.
Read more: Two years into Ukraine war, West fails to contain Russia: NYT
Last week, the German opposition proposed providing long-range Taurus missiles to Kiev, but lawmakers in the Bundestag, largely consisting of Scholz's three-party coalition, voted to reject the motion.
The Taurus missile is launched from a fighter jet and has a warhead weighing nearly half a ton against a fortified target up to 310 miles (about 500 kilometers) away, almost equivalent to the UK-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles. This means that the Taurus missile can hit the Russian capital, Moscow, which is about 450 kilometers away from the border with Ukraine.
During his speech at the Bundestag lower house, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius claimed that "Putin’s Russia is and will remain the greatest security threat to Europe for the foreseeable future," adding that Germany would fight it with “with all our strength."
Germany has consistently provided aid to Kiev with the delivery of Leopard tanks and IRIS-T air defense systems.
