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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is under fire. He had stated at a press conference in Berlin that British and French troops operate missile systems in Ukraine, and those governments do not thank him for this.
Scholz explained to journalists on Monday why his country is not sending Taurus cruise missiles (very powerful weapons that can outwit radar systems, ed.) to Ukraine. Operating those weapons would require assistance from German soldiers in Ukraine, the Chancellor said, and he thinks that is a bridge too far. “This is a weapon that can be used at very long ranges,” he said. “And Germany cannot do what the French and British do in terms of target control (correctly aligning the missiles with targets, ed.) and support for target control.” He did not want Germany to become too closely involved in the war in this way, he made it clear.
With these statements, Scholz makes it appear that France and the United Kingdom already provide soldier assistance in Ukraine, and are therefore actually more actively involved in the conflict than previously assumed. This has gone particularly wrong in the UK. “Scholz is the wrong man in the wrong job at the wrong time,” said Ben Wallace, former British defense secretary. Tobias Ellwood, former chairman of the House of Representatives Defense Committee, called it “a blatant intelligence violation,” which he said was done deliberately to distract from “German reluctance to arm Ukraine with a long-term missile system.” distance”. “There is no doubt that Russia will use this to move up the escalation ladder.”
In France the reaction was calmer. Benjamin Haddad, MP from President Macron’s ruling party, tweeted that Scholz’s statements provoked a “diplomatic crisis” with London. “Berlin is completely isolated with this.” François Heisbourg, advisor to the London Institute for Strategic Studies, also tweeted about Scholz’s statements. “It seems that Scholz cares as little about his British allies as he does about his French ones.” Although he also sees a positive side to the statements. “He is so slowly breaking the taboo surrounding the presence of NATO troops in Ukraine.” Even in his own country, Scholz is criticized. “Completely irresponsible,” CDU MP Norbert Rottgen called it.
According to Justin Crump of Sibylline, a company specialized in geopolitics, Scholz’s statements are “a gift for Russian propaganda.” “They will prompt Russia to try even harder to attack foreign forces in Ukraine.”
