Chairman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Friedrich Merz said that if he is elected chancellor of Germany, he is ready to speak on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but under certain conditions - if there is a reason for this and the consent of the partners.
„If there is a reason for it and an agreement is reached between the European and transatlantic partners, then of course yes”, he said in an interview with Stern magazine, in response to the question about the readiness for a telephone conversation with the Russian president if he is elected chancellor. However, Mertz claims that “there is no need to have illusions” and again stated that Russia must be given an ultimatum to stop striking targets in Ukraine within 24 hours, otherwise he, as chancellor, would first be prepared to allow German weapons to be launched deep into Russia and subsequently even can deliver Taurus cruise missiles.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has repeatedly rejected the possibility of these missiles, which have a range of about 500 km, being transferred to Kiev. The head of government said the delivery of such weapons systems would lead to a “serious risk of escalation”. Kiev has been asking Berlin for "Taurus" missiles for a long time. They are considered an analogue of the British Storm Shadow, which have already been delivered to Ukraine. However, the range of German-Swedish missiles is greater.
Germany is currently experiencing an acute political crisis. It arose due to disagreements in the coalition (Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the Greens and the Free Democratic Party (FDP)) on budgetary, financial and economic policy, including on further aid to Kiev and on the issue of easing the so-called debt brake ( rule that prohibits spending more money from the budget than is received), Chancellor Olaf Scholz decided to fire Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) from his post finance minister of the Bundestag their government.
If the MPs reject the chancellor's confidence, then, according to the law, the president will be obliged to dissolve the parliament within 21 days. New elections must then be held within 60 days of the dissolution of the Bundestag. In this case, Merz has the best chance to become the new chancellor.
Source: tass.ru