Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova called German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's recent statement that the supply of long-range Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine "is not on the agenda" a "play on words." In her Telegram channel on May 18, 2025, Zakharova expressed the opinion that Merz is trying to remove the discussion of this topic from the public space in order to hide Berlin's real intentions.

"The Chancellor's task is to remove the issue of long-range missile deliveries from public discussion. As if they do not exist. But in reality, no one will know how many units and when Berlin transferred to the Kyiv regime," she wrote.

Merz, who took over the German government after the CDU/CSU won the February 2025 elections, had previously been a vocal supporter of Taurus deliveries. In April 2025, he said in an interview with ARD that he was ready to hand over the missiles to Kyiv, subject to agreement with European partners, mentioning the possibility of strikes on strategic targets, including the Crimean Bridge. However, after taking office, his rhetoric changed. On May 12, the German Defense Ministry announced that the government would no longer publicly comment on deliveries of long-range weapons, and Merz said on ZDF that the Taurus issue required lengthy training for the Ukrainian military and was “not relevant.”

Zakharova argues that the change in tone is linked to a desire to avoid public scrutiny. She recalled that public debates about Taurus had previously given Russia a “strategic advantage” by allowing it to track Western plans.