German Defense Minister has not heard of UK's idea to replace Taurus with Storm Shadow missiles - BILD
Kyiv • UNN
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius denied information about the proposed exchange of German Taurus missiles for British Storm Shadow missiles. He rejected claims that Putin's threats influenced the decision to supply missiles to Ukraine.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has not heard of Britain's idea to exchange Taurus for Storm Shadow. He said this in an interview with the BILD publication, UNN reports.
I know nothing about this proposal. If there are discussions on this issue, they are not in my office."
Details
This statement was made by the German Defense Minister, commenting on the current media reports that the UK intends to buy Taurus missiles from Germany and supply Ukraine with more Storm Shadow missiles in return.
In his estimation, Taurus is significantly superior to Storm Shadow. And if there were such discussions with the office, they would have to determine whether this proposal is viable or not.
In general, he was rather skeptical about the idea of a possible exchange in this format. He also rejected the idea that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin's alleged threats were the reason why Ukraine was denied Taurus missiles.
I don't know anything about threats from Putin. To be honest, they wouldn't scare me too much, because he's always threatening.
He noted that Russia is a dictatorship that has now switched to a war economy. Pistorius emphasized that Germany is not interested in cooperation with the aggressor.
"We don't need either in Germany. We cannot say to the industry: 'Do what you want, but we need to sign contracts,'" the minister explained.