WASHINGTON
\nChancellor Olaf Scholz has hailed a decision from the United States to periodically station long-range missiles in Germany as a step to increase deterrence against Russia.
\nWashington\u2019s move marks a return of US cruise missiles to Germany after a 20-year absence, and has sparked criticism even among members of Scholz\u2019s Social Democrats.
\nThe Kremlin also said the decision to station US missiles in Germany was pushing Russia and the West toward a Cold War-style confrontation.
\nDefending the decision, Scholz told reporters at a NATO summit in Washington it is \u201csomething of deterrence and it\u2019s securing peace, and it is a necessary and important decision at the right time.\u201d The United States on Wednesday said the \u201cepisodic deployments\u201d of long-range missiles to Germany will begin in 2026.
\nThe White House said it would eventually look to permanently station them in Germany, and the missiles would \u201chave significantly longer range\u201d than current US systems in Europe.
\n\u201cExercising these advanced capabilities will demonstrate the United States\u2019 commitment to NATO and its contributions to European integrated deterrence,\u201d it said in a joint statement with the German government.
\nThe missile decision signalled \u201csteady steps toward the Cold War,\u201d Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a state TV reporter.
\n\u201cAll the attributes of the Cold War with the direct confrontation are returning,\u201d Peskov said.
\nGerman Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told broadcaster Deutschlandfunk the deployment decision addressed a \u201cvery serious gap\u201d in the country\u2019s capabilities.
\nThe German army does not have long-range missiles that launch from the ground, only cruise missiles that can be fired by aircraft.
\nBut the announcement sparked an outcry in Germany, where the deployment of US missiles brings back painful memories of the Cold War.
\nRalf Stegner, an MP for Scholz\u2019s Social Democrats, said the missile decision could signal the start of a new \u201carms race.\u201d
\n\u201cThis will not make the world safer. On the contrary, we are entering a spiral in which the world is becoming increasingly dangerous,\u201d warned Stegner.
\nSahra Wagenknecht, a prominent far-left figure in Germany, told the Spiegel weekly that US missile deployment \u201cincreases the danger that Germany itself will become a theater of war.\u201d
\nThe 1980s deployment of US Pershing ballistic missiles in West Germany at the height of the Cold War prompted widespread demonstrations, with hundreds of thousands coming out in pacifist protest. US missiles continued to be stationed through the reunification of Germany and into the 1990s.
\nFollowing the end of the Cold War, the US significantly reduced the numbers of missiles stationed in Europe as the threat from Moscow receded.
\nBut NATO countries \u2014 spearheaded by the US \u2014 are rushing to bolster their defenses on the continent in the wake of Russia\u2019s 2022 invasion of neighboring Ukraine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON Chancellor Olaf Scholz has hailed a decision from the United States to periodically station long-range missiles in Germany as a step to increase deterrence against Russia. Washington\u2019s move marks a return of US cruise missiles to Germany after a 20-year absence, and has sparked criticism even among members of Scholz\u2019s Social Democrats. The Kremlin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418355,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-418344","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n