Chancellor Olaf Scholz has defended his rejection of the delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. Germany is providing a lot of help in this area, said the SPD politician at a public discussion in Dresden. Nevertheless, every decision must be carefully considered. This particularly applies to a weapon that has a range of 500 kilometers and, if used incorrectly, could reach a specific target in Moscow. Others then have to worry about where exactly what ends up. “In our case that would mean that we would have to participate in order to be able to do that. I think that is impossible.”
At the same time, Scholz reiterated that escalation and war between Russia and NATO must be prevented. “There will be no German soldiers, not even NATO soldiers, on Ukrainian land, because otherwise that would pose this danger. I remain committed to that,” emphasized Scholz.
In his speech to the nation, Russian President Vladimir Putin had once again warned the West about the power of the nuclear power’s weapons. When making threatening gestures, the West should remember that Russia also has weapons that could hit targets in that area, he told more than 1,000 representatives from politics, business, culture and religion in Moscow.
“Diplomats instead of grenades”: fuss about message to Putin
With a message to Putin at the public discussion, Scholz sparked discussions on social media. At the event, a participant handed him a sheet of stickers with the slogan “Diplomats instead of grenades” and asked him to hand it over to his Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens). Scholz then said with a raised fist: “Yes, diplomats instead of grenades is the sentence that we are chanting together towards the Kremlin in Moscow.”
The Chancellor received criticism on the X platform (formerly Twitter) for his reaction. But many also defended him. Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit emphasized: “The Chancellor quotes the slogan – with the addition that the demand should be addressed to Moscow.”
