BERLIN, August 11. /TASS/. The German government’s supplies of Taurus cruise missiles to the Kiev regime will lead to an uncontrolled escalation of the Ukrainian crisis, Sahra Wagenknecht, member of the Bundestag for The Left, said.
"The delivery [by the German government] of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine would be another step toward the uncontrolled escalation of the conflict," the politician said on her page on Facebook (prohibited in Russia due to its ownership by Meta, which has been designated as an extremist organization). She noted that there are "compelling reasons" why "even the US is not supplying Ukraine with cruise missiles capable of striking targets located at a distance of hundreds of kilometers on Russian territory." Additionally, in her opinion, the Taurus missiles "won’t help Ukraine win militarily," but will merely lead to more victims and destruction.
In this context, Wagenknecht has urged the German government "not to allow the arms lobby and its supporters to get drawn into a war with Russia." In her opinion, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz should "strive for a ceasefire and peace talks" between the sides instead of "endless arms supplies."
On August 11, the Bild newspaper reported that the German authorities were not yet ready to supply Taurus missiles to the Kiev regime, contrary to what some media outlets had claimed. According to the newspaper, both the office of the federal chancellor and the Defense Ministry refuted information that the decision on the matter had already been made or was expected shortly. "Currently, there are no preparations underway for making a decision on this account," a high-ranking government official told the newspaper on the condition of anonymity.
Earlier, Der Spiegel wrote that the German government was considering supplying Taurus missiles from Bundeswehr stockpiles to the Kiev regime in the next few months and highly classified talks with the defense industry representatives were allegedly underway. According to it, Scholz wanted to introduce technical modifications to the Taurus missiles so they wouldn't be able to deliver strikes on Russian territory.
In late May, Ukraine asked Berlin for Taurus missiles. Sources told the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung that Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky had discussed the issue with Scholz in Berlin in mid-May. Earlier, some politicians in the ruling coalition's Green Party, the Free Democratic Party (FDP), and the opposition Christian Democratic and Christian Social Union bloc stated the need to hand over the missiles to Kiev, but the Social Democrats were against it.