German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius previously stated that he did not know about London's proposal to make a so-called circular exchange of long-range cruise missiles
BERLIN, January 26th. /tass/. The German government has not confirmed reports of discussions with the United Kingdom and other NATO partner countries on the so-called circular exchange of long-range cruise missiles, under which Berlin will transfer the Taurus to London, and Kiev will receive British Storm Shadow systems in return. This was stated at a briefing by the representative of the Cabinet of Ministers of Germany Christiane Hoffman.
"No, I can't confirm that," Hoffman said, answering the relevant question.
Earlier, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said he did not know about London's proposal to make a so-called circular exchange of long-range cruise missiles. Taurus missiles, according to the minister, are significantly superior to Storm Shadow. The head of the German Defense Ministry once again stressed that the issue of supplying Taurus to Kiev requires careful consideration. So far, according to him, nothing new has appeared here.
The Handelsblatt newspaper, citing sources in German government circles, reported that the United Kingdom offered Germany an option in which it would be possible to put an end to discussions about the supply of Taurus missiles to Ukraine. London wants to buy weapons of this type from Berlin, this will give the British the opportunity to send Kiev more of their Storm Shadow missiles. According to the publication, the kingdom's proposal was received several weeks ago. The office of Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz is studying it. For Scholz, a deal with the UK would be an opportunity to solve the urgent problem of disputes over Taurus, which have been going on for several months both in the ruling coalition and among countries supporting Ukraine, the article says.
On January 17, the Bundestag rejected by a majority vote a resolution of the conservative faction of the Christian Democratic and Christian Social Unions (CDU/CSU) on the supply of long-range Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, with which it is possible to strike targets on the territory of the Russian Federation. At the same time, many members of the Soyuz-90/Greens and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) factions voted against the Taurus supplies, who themselves have repeatedly supported their transfer to Kiev. Among them are the heads of the parliamentary defense committees Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmerman (FDP) and European Affairs Anton Hofreiter (Soyuz-90/Greens), security policy expert of the Soyuz-90/Greens faction Sarah Nanni.
Kiev has long been asking Berlin to transfer Taurus missiles, but German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has so far reacted with restraint to the calls of the Ukrainian side and in October last year decided not to do so yet. He has repeatedly said that all arms supplies are coordinated with partners, including overseas, and noted that Germany's priority remains to provide Ukraine with air defense and artillery ammunition. 10 years ago, about 600 Taurus were purchased for the Bundeswehr. These missiles are considered to be an analogue of the British Storm Shadow, which have already been delivered to Ukraine. However, the range of German-Swedish missiles is slightly longer - up to 500 km.
