Strack-Zimmermann: Explanation of Chancellor’s no to Taurus is difficult
Published: Sunday, Feb 18th 2024, 13:40
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FDP defense politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann has called for the rapid delivery of Taurus cruise missiles by Germany to Ukraine in response to the death of Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny. Navalny's death at the very moment of the Munich Security Conference was a sign, she said at the meeting on Sunday. "We have to react and say: Okay, we understand and now we have to do it," added Strack-Zimmermann, who is leading her party into the European elections as the top candidate and is currently a member of the Bundestag. The FDP is part of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's (SPD) "traffic light" government together with the SPD and the Greens.
In her opinion, the right response to Navalny's death would be to make it clear to Russian President Vladimir Putin that "we will now send everything we have, even Taurus", said Strack-Zimmermann. She demanded a quick decision from the traffic lights on the Taurus delivery. "We have no time," she said, referring to the situation in Ukraine. We must now be "very clear and very quick".
When asked about Scholz's statements on Taurus the previous day at the security conference, Strack-Zimmermann said: "I find it difficult to explain why the Chancellor didn't say: Come on, let's do it." However, she could promise "that we will continue this discussion". It was "a very important sign to cut the Russian army's supply system", said Strack-Zimmermann. "And we know where it is. And we know we have to do it." On the traffic light discussion about Taurus, she said: "We are a democracy and we are discussing with three parties." It was a "very German" discussion.
In October, Scholz declared that Germany would not supply Taurus for the time being. This was due to fears that the missiles could hit Russian territory. At the security conference on Saturday, Scholz evaded the question of whether he might want to release them after all. In an interview after his speech, he merely assured the audience that Germany would always do enough to support Ukraine. The Ukrainian government officially requested the Taurus cruise missiles with a range of 500 kilometers and high accuracy from Germany in May 2023 in order to be able to hit military targets far behind the front line.
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