BERLIN, November 18. /TASS/. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said that he remains committed to his decision not to supply Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.

"We have our principles and we will stick to them," he said on the sidelines of the Group of Twenty summit in Rio de Janeiro. "There are clear reasons why I don’t think it is right to supply Taurus cruise missiles."

"This is something for which I cannot and do not want to bear responsibility for," he added.

Scholz has repeatedly rejected the idea of sending Taurus missiles, which have a range of around 500 kilometers, to Ukraine. According to him, supplies of such weapons systems may trigger a serious escalation. Ukraine has been asking Germany to supply Taurus missiles for quite a long time. These missiles are considered similar to British Storm Shadows, which have already been delivered to Ukraine. However, Taurus’ have a longer range than Storm Shadow’s.

The discussion about potential Taurus supplies emerged anew after the United States’ decision to authorize Ukraine using US-made ATACMS tactical ballistics missiles for strikes inside Russia.