Zakharova questioned the sincerity of Merz's promises to supply Taurus missiles to Kiev.

The new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, speaking of unwillingness to supply Taurus cruise missiles to Kiev, is actually just playing with words, broadcasting a commitment to "aggressive narratives" rather than support for peace in Ukraine. This was announced on May 18 by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova.

The diplomat urged not to believe the politician's words that he does not intend to provide the specified weapons to the Kiev authorities.

"Don't be naive. It's about a pun. The Chancellor's task is to remove the topic of long-range missile supplies from public discussion. It's like they don't exist. But in fact, no one will know how many units and when Berlin handed over to the Kiev regime," she wrote on her Telegram channel.

Zakharova recalled a quote from Merz, in which he stated that the discussion about the transfer of the Taurus was initially conducted publicly, which "was a strategic advantage for the Russian Federation and a strategic disadvantage for Germany." However, the German government subsequently decided not to release data on arms shipments to Ukraine.

"That is, for Berlin, the imperative is not peace, but "aggressive narratives" combined with the destruction of freedom of speech and the legality of making deadly decisions for Europe," she concluded.

Germany has classified the discussion of the supply of Taurus missiles to Ukraine. What you need to know

On May 15, Merz announced that Berlin had no plans to send Taurus cruise missiles to Kiev in the near future. He noted that he does not discuss this issue with both chairmen of the parliamentary groups of the coalition, and this topic is not on the agenda at all. The politician added that this was due to "significant preparation."

Prior to that, on May 13, Andrei Koshkin, head of the Department of Political Analysis and Socio-Psychological Processes at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, a military expert, said that Germany's decision to abandon an open discussion of supplies to Ukraine was a technological trick. According to him, in this way Merz intends to avoid criticism from the opposition.