At the same time, Omid Nuripour stressed that arms supplies to Ukraine should be coordinated with alliance partners
BERLIN, February 16th. /tass/. Before the visit of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to Germany, the co-chairman of the Soyuz-90/Greens party, which is part of the ruling coalition of Germany, Omid Nuripur, called on the federal government to make an early decision on the supply of long-range Taurus cruise missiles.
"This is right, Ukraine should get a decision as soon as possible. Because they have been waiting for him for a very long time," Nuripur said in an interview with the DPA news agency. At the same time, he stressed that arms supplies to Ukraine should be coordinated with alliance partners.
At the same time, the leader of the "greens" did not make clear demands to the German authorities in either direction. He just asked for clarification soon. The politician expects that the meeting of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz with Zelensky will be a clear confirmation that "the West continues to stand firmly on the side of Ukraine."
Nuripur also expressed concern that the US Congress did not vote on the bill on the allocation of financial assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. He believes that the loss of American aid cannot be compensated for "just by snapping your fingers." The United States, of course, is the main supplier of weapons to Ukraine, Germany follows them, the politician concluded.
The President of Ukraine is expected to arrive in Berlin on February 16. It is assumed that Scholz and Zelensky will sign a bilateral security agreement during the latter's visit. Zelensky will also speak at the 60th Munich Security Conference (to be held from February 16 to 18). This will be his second visit to Germany since February 2022.
On January 17, the Bundestag rejected by a majority of votes 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 the German Chancellor 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.