Report: option for the future
Scholz probably doesn’t want to deliver Taurus rockets to Kiev
October 5, 2023, 7:08 a.m
Great Britain and France are making submissions, but Germany is not following suit: According to media reports, there will currently be no long-awaited Taurus cruise missiles for Ukraine from Germany. To justify this, Scholz says that the British and French can do something “that we are not allowed to do”.
For months, Ukraine has been demanding that Germany supply Taurus cruise missiles in order to be able to attack Russian positions far behind the front line. According to a report by ARD and the “Bild” newspaper, it is now clear that the federal government will not fulfill the wishes of the country attacked by Russia for the time being. However, there is no confirmation of this yet. “There is no new status to report on the question of Taurus cruise missiles,” said a government spokeswoman.
In plain language this means: There is no further formal decision. The federal government has repeatedly stated in recent weeks that the decision will not be taken lightly and that the issue will continue to be discussed with the alliance partners.
“Bild” also reported that Germany has not yet formally rejected the government in Kiev’s request for the missiles with a range of 500 kilometers. However, it has been made clear internally that the Taurus rockets are not currently being delivered. So Scholz is keeping his options open for the future.
The Chancellor has recently repeatedly stated publicly that Germany currently wants to concentrate on the delivery of air defense systems. His skeptical attitude towards cruise missiles has long been known. The reason behind this is that these weapons can also be used to fire well into Russian territory.
Kiesewetter: Germany’s total failure
Great Britain and France nevertheless delivered cruise missiles of the virtually identical types “Storm Shadow” and “Scalp”. According to “Bild”, Scholz said at a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee last week that these two countries “can do something that we are not allowed to do,” and added: “That doesn’t raise the question.”
What this means is that Great Britain and France supplied the geodata for missile targets themselves, Great Britain also had its own personnel on site in Ukraine. This is out of the question for the federal government. In addition, according to the report, German government representatives have expressed concern that Taurus cruise missiles could hit the Kerch Bridge between the Russian mainland and the Russian-annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.
The CDU foreign politician Roderich Kiesewetter reiterated his demand for the Taurus missiles to be delivered to Ukraine: “By canceling the Taurus delivery, Scholz confirms the total failure of Germany as the self-proclaimed leading nation for European security and offends our partners such as Great Britain and France, who are already delivering cruise missiles,” he told “Bild”.