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Leader of Germany’s Green Party supports missile swap with UK to help Ukraine

Omid Nouripour said the option needs to be explored urgently

BERLIN, March 11. /TASS/. Omid Nouripour, a co-chairman of the Alliance 90/The Greens party, supported a potential swap in which Germany would give its Taurus missiles to the UK, so London could provide more of its Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine.

"This could be one of the options of how we could cut the knot," Nouripour told reporters in Berlin.

He said the option needs to be explored urgently. The potential escalation of the conflict is a factor the German government takes into account when deciding whether to support Ukraine.

"And these concerns should be taken very, very seriously," the politician said.

"We, the Greens, believe that, especially in the current situation, Ukraine needs weapons systems that cover the entire territory of the country, including cruise missiles," Nouripour said.

He conceded the government reached no agreement on the issue.

"And that is why we now need to think about how we can help in other ways," he said.

UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron told Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper on March 9 that London was ready to help Berlin resolve issues related to possible deliveries of Taurus missiles to Kiev. When asked whether a swap was being discussed, in which London could transfer its Storm Shadow missiles to Kiev in exchange for Taurus missiles from Germany, Cameron said that the country was prepared to consider all options to maximize the impact for Ukraine, but declined to give details.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the option could be acceptable to Berlin. However, she does not make final decisions on this issue.

Scholz has repeatedly - most recently on March 4 - reiterated his refusal to supply Ukraine with Taurus missiles. He stated that the transfer of such weapons was ruled out because it would require the involvement of the German military, which would be tantamount to dragging his country into the conflict. Nevertheless, the Christian Democratic and Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) faction in the Bundestag will vote again this week on a resolution to supply Kiev with Taurus missiles.

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Ukraine crisis Germany

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