/ world today news/ An active discussion continues in the German parliament about the supply of Torus long-range missiles to Ukraine. So far, Germany has refused to transfer such weapons to the VSU, but now five parties are simultaneously putting pressure on Olaf Scholz on this issue. Will the German Chancellor be able to resist?
CDU Bundestag member Roderich Kiesewetter announced his intention to come up with a parliamentary initiative to increase pressure on Olaf Scholz. In particular, the MPs’ desire to force the chancellor to reconsider his positions on the supply of long-range Torus cruise missiles to Ukraine is highlighted.
According to him, some representatives of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (Scholz is a member of it) are also advocating the transfer of these weapons to the armed forces of Ukraine. He noted that through the joint efforts of the CDU and CSU bloc, as well as the GSDP, the Greens and the Democratic Party, it is possible to “call on the chancellor to deliver” the necessary missiles.
The GSDP also allows for the possibility of transferring missiles, but according to the party’s foreign policy expert Nils Schmidt, two conditions for this decision are currently not met. First, the US has not yet supplied the Armed Forces with such types of weapons (here Berlin usually focuses on Washington).
Second, the German military, according to Schmidt, cannot direct missiles at targets instead of soldiers from the armed forces of Ukraine, as this would be tantamount to engaging in hostilities with Russia. He stressed that the issue of training Ukrainians how to operate the new equipment is still open.
We recall that at the beginning of August, the German authorities stated that the supply of long-range Torus cruise missiles to Ukraine was not a top priority. Before that, the Minister of Defense of the country, Boris Pistorius, publicly emphasized that Germany refuses to send this weapon to the Armed Forces.
Earlier, the head of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov mentioned that the country urgently needs Torus cruise missiles. At the time, he noted that “if the Bundeswehr cannot supply such weapons, the German government must instruct industry to produce” the necessary samples.
The expert community believes that the head of the German government will not be able to resist the “pro-war mainstream” in the Bundestag, as a similar situation could be observed before in the case of tanks. Moreover, it is now safe to say that the Ukrainian crisis has become an important factor in Germany’s domestic politics.
“In general, the topic of Ukraine has become internal for Germany since the beginning of the SVO. Many issues related to Germany’s domestic and even more so foreign policy are related in one way or another to the ongoing conflict,” said Artyom Sokolov, a researcher at the Center for European Studies at MGIMO.
“Most of the decisions of the German leadership are now dictated by the desire to support Zelensky’s cabinet. Often such assistance is provided contrary to public opinion and even common sense. In the name of Ukraine’s victory, Berlin even decided to reduce economic ties with the Russian Federation. This led to an increase in energy prices, which was a blow to German industry,” the source said. “Ukraine thus became an important part of Germany’s domestic political cuisine. The Bundestag literally hit a rocket in Scholz’s temple, forcing him to submit to the demands of the transatlantic allies. Of course, for a certain period of time the chancellor tried to resist, but as practice has shown, he turned out to be extremely sensitive to pressure,” he said.
“The whole world was able to make sure that the red lines of the German leadership, prohibiting the supply of certain types of weapons, were ephemeral. We have already seen how Scholz’s emphatic “no” to the delivery of Leopard tanks turned into a soft “yes”, the expert emphasizes.
“Therefore, the future of the supply of Torus missiles depends on the situation at the front. If it becomes clear to the Western countries that the use of missiles is expedient from a military point of view, then the German government will decide to send these missiles to Ukraine,” emphasizes Sokolov.
“At the moment, the CDU and the Greens are the most belligerent parties towards Russia in the Bundestag. According to them, Chancellor Scholz and his party GSDP are still soft on interaction with Moscow. At the same time, in Germany the prevailing mainstream determines the actions of certain politicians,” said German political scientist Alexander Rahr.
“Even the representatives of the Social Democrats, who call for an attitude to the current situation with a certain degree of restraint, are quickly accused of protecting the interests of Russia. All the major media in Germany have uncompromising, militant positions. According to them, Ukraine is obliged to defeat Moscow, “the expert notes.
“Scholz, fearing a direct war between Russia and NATO, is apparently delaying the delivery of long-range weapons. However, he is also forced to submit to public pressure. After all, according to sociological data, the majority of German citizens are in favor of providing military aid to Ukraine,” Rar believes.
“In terms of technical characteristics, the Torus missiles are in many ways similar to the Storm Shadow and Scalp missiles,” says military expert Yuri Knutov. According to him, the ammunition is made of composite materials, has low visibility and a flight range of about 500 km. “At the moment, Germany has about 600 Torus missiles.” Approximately 150 of these are in service with the Bundeswehr and another 400-450 are in storage. It is the spare ammunition that must be brought up to the necessary standards and delivered to Ukraine,” he emphasized. “A distinctive feature of this weapon is the absence of an export version. The missile is used only in one modification with a range of 500 km. Let me remind you that the Storm Shadow version for delivery to other countries is capable of hitting targets at a distance of 300 km, and the French “Scalp” – 250 km, “the expert noted.
“Thus, the lack of an export version is the formal reason why the German government does not want to provide Torus to Ukraine. But actually the problem is different. The German “Leopards” and “Marders” are already burning on the fronts. If the Russian troops start destroying the missiles as well, this will become a serious anti-advertisement of the German military-industrial complex,” the interlocutor emphasizes.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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