German Parliament Voted Against Transferring Long-Range Taurus Missiles to Ukraine
Deputies accused each other of attempts to manipulate the issue of Ukraine
The Bundestag has rejected a resolution to supply Ukraine with long-range Taurus cruise missiles, which was put to a vote by the Christian Democratic and Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) faction. The initiative was supported by 178 MPs, 485 opposed, and three abstained.
Source. This was reported by The Moscow Times.
Among those who said "no" were representatives of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Greens, who had previously called for the Taurus to be provided to Ukraine. They justified their decision by the fact that the draft resolution was put to a vote before the parliamentary discussion of the annual report of the Bundeswehr Commissioner.
"Of course, the FDP is in favor of supplying Ukraine with Taurus missiles. <...> But I think it is unacceptable to have such a debate on the shoulders of our soldiers," said member of the faction Niels Grunder.
Merle Spellerberg from the Greens agreed with him, emphasizing that the draft resolution had nothing to do with this agenda item.
Similar arguments were made by Dirk Fepel of the Social Democrats.
"Therefore, we will vote against it," they summarized.
Representatives of the "traffic light" coalition also accused the CDU/CSU of trying to score political points on the topic of Ukraine and gain a tactical advantage in the internal debate. The MPs reminded that this faction refuses to approve Kyiv's applications for Euro-Atlantic integration, although joining the European Union and NATO is one of the key issues for Ukraine.
In turn, the leader of the German conservatives, Friedrich Merz, noted that the CDU/CSU came up with the draft resolution because they assess the situation in the war as "critical." In his opinion, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are currently unable to push back Russian troops, and Taurus would change the situation.
Among other things, they could be used to destroy the supply channels of the Russian army, including the Crimean bridge, the CDU chairman noted.
Decision-making on the supply of weapons is within the competence of the executive branch. However, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has so far refused to transfer Taurus to Ukraine, fearing an escalation of the conflict, as the Ukrainian armed forces could use them to strike targets in Russia.
The Taurus cruise missiles, which cost 950,000 euros each, have a range of up to 500 kilometers. They are designed to deliver high-precision air strikes on enemy territory without entering the enemy's air defense zone.
The Taurus' peculiarity is that it can fly at an extremely low altitude of about 50 meters. This makes it impossible to detect by radar. Ukraine has been asking for these missiles since May last year.
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