Schultz: We don’t want to play “Russian Roulette” with Russia

According to Isna, German Chancellor Olaf Schultz criticized Friedrich Mertz, the Christian Democratic Party’s candidate for the chancellorship for the next year’s federal election, during a speech, for his argument in providing long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine.

According to Rashatodi News channel, Mertz said that Germany should give Russia an ultimatum to stop targeting Ukraine, and if Moscow does not respond to this ultimatum, Berlin should remove the restrictions on the range of missiles to Ukraine and then give missiles to Kiev.

Shults, who has repeatedly talked about sending Taros missiles to Ukraine due to his concern about Germany’s involvement in this war, rejected the idea of ​​sending said missiles and said: “You have to be careful. We should not play Russian roulette with Russia over Germany’s security. We should not gamble. “Of course, we still strongly support Ukraine.”

In mid-November, Schultz and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke in the first phone call since the end of 2022, and the German chancellor spoke about Russia’s readiness to negotiate with Ukraine with the aim of achieving a just and lasting peace and the need for Berlin to support Kiev as long as necessary. be, he emphasized.

Putin also emphasized that this conflict is a direct result of NATO’s long-term hostile policy aimed at creating an anti-Russian approach on the territory of Ukraine.

While Germany has long delayed supplying long-range missiles to Ukraine, the same has not been true of the United States, Britain and France, which have provided Kiev with Atcoms, Storm Shadow and Scallop missiles.

Last month, Washington authorized Ukraine to use US-made long-range missiles for strikes deep into Russia, and Moscow reported attacks using Storm Shadows.

Before approving Ukraine’s use of ATCOMs, Putin warned that the move would mean NATO’s direct involvement in the Ukrainian war and would change the nature of the conflict, as Kiev would not be able to conduct missile operations without data from its Western backers.

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