German leaders justified an agreement with the United States to station long-range missiles in the country by citing the increased threat posed by Russia to European security.
The agreement between Berlin and the White House, announced on Wednesday, calls for placing long-range US missiles in Germany by 2026 that would have the range to strike well into Russia.
It will be the first time since the end of the Cold War that such weapons have been deployed on German territory.
"We know that there has been an incredible arms build-up in Russia, with weapons that threaten European territory," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington.
There had been lengthy discussions on how to respond with conventional deterrence in addition to the NATO nuclear umbrella. The deployment of long-range weapons had already been laid down a year ago in Germany's first National Security Strategy.
"That is why the United States' decision fits in perfectly with this strategy, which we have been discussing publicly for a long time."
Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck, a Green, also defended the arrangement as "necessary" on Thursday, despite criticism from some members of his party, which traces its roots partly back to anti-nuclear protests.
"Rearmament is not something I take lightly," Habeck told the Neue Westfälische newspaper. "But I think the US decision to station long-range weapons in our country is necessary."
The increased threat to Germany and its NATO allies in Europe from Russia, which is currently waging an ongoing invasion of Ukraine, calls for a sober-minded response, Habeck said.
"We must increase our defensive capabilities because we are living in a very threatening time that is different from the 1980s. That's why naivety is out of the question," he said.
His remarks referenced widespread protests in Germany over the 1979 NATO Double-Track decision, which provided for the deployment of US Pershing II medium-range missiles to Western Europe in response to military build-up by the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact countries.
Cold War calculations prevailed then, Habeck said: "Now we are experiencing a hot war in Ukraine because people are shooting and dying."
The Russian army's build-up "obviously also threatens NATO's eastern flank," Habeck said. "So Russia is not a peace partner at the moment."
Russia decries move, warns of response
Russia's ambassador to Germany, Sergei Nechayev, has warned the German government of a further deterioration in relations between Moscow and Berlin if the United States stations long-range missiles there as announced.
"It is to be hoped that the German political elites will reconsider whether such a destructive and dangerous step, which contributes neither to the security of the Federal Republic of Germany nor the European continent as a whole, is advisable," Nechayev said. "Not to mention the irreparable damage to German-Russian relations."
Nechayev claimed that the move would lead to further tensions, an arms race and the risk of an uncontrolled confrontation between Russia and NATO, which could have irreversible consequences.
Russia's deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, told Russian state news agency TASS in St Petersburg on Thursday that Russian security would be compromised by such weapons.
"We will work out a primarily military response to this without showing nerves or emotions," he said but did not give any details.
Ryabkov noted that the NATO Double-Track Decision's deployment of missiles in the 1980s was aimed at putting pressure on the Soviet Union to engage in arms control and disarmament talks, which ultimately led to major agreements.
Ryabkov said he could not imagine what the US and Germany were now aiming for.
"They can hardly count on this experience being repeated. The situation has changed fundamentally," he told TASS.
Scholz: Rearmament 'no real surprise'
Scholz on Thursday played down the possibility of widespread protests or resistance to the return of long-range weapons to Germany, including from within the ranks of his Social Democrats (SPD), who have historically opposed weapons build-ups.
"This decision has been a long time in the making and comes as no real surprise to anyone involved in security and peace policy," he said.
As a young Social Democrat in the 1980s, Scholz himself took part in protests against the deployment of missiles. The US missiles were withdrawn by 1991 following the end of the Cold War.
The new agreement with the US calls for Tomahawk cruise missiles, SM-6 anti-aircraft missiles and newly developed supersonic weapons to be deployed in Europe starting in 2026, with the stated goal of providing better protection for NATO allies.
Habeck, however, said that Germany's security policy should only be a first step, and that efforts should still be made to find ways to achieve lasting peace and eventual disarmament.
"We must find ways to turn the logic of escalation back into diplomacy, to turn the war in Ukraine into a peaceful solution - always together with the Ukrainians and always with a view to the sovereignty and freedom that they are defending there," he said.
Greens demand Scholz offer clear explanation
Earlier Thursday, the German Greens, a junior partner in Scholz's coalition, demanded an explanation of why the US long-range cruise missiles are to be stationed in Germany.
Green parliamentary security spokeswoman Sara Nanni criticized Scholz for not explaining the decision.
"It can even increase fears and leaves room for disinformation and incitement," Nanni told the Rheinische Post regional newspaper. She noted also that Scholz had provided little information on the actual threat facing NATO.
Katharina Dröge, head of the Greens' parliamentary group, expressed similar concerns to broadcaster RTL/ntv. Many people could become worried following the announcement, she said.
"For that reason, I believe that it would be right for the chancellor to explain and answer these questions in public. In my view, he bears the responsibility for this," Dröge said.
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