OREANDA-NEWS  German Chancellor Friedrich Merz claims that at the NATO summit in Ankara, the German authorities agreed with the United States on the purchase of American Tomahawk cruise missiles. The words of the German leader are quoted by Die Zeit.

"On the sidelines of the NATO meeting in Ankara, we agreed with the American government to purchase American Tomahawk missiles and deploy them in Germany," Merz said.

According to the politician, the purchase of such weapons will allow Germany to eliminate an "important strategic gap" in defense. At the same time, Merz clarified that, despite the help from NATO, Europe must take on even greater responsibility for its own security.

Earlier, Merz announced the end of "freebies" for European countries in NATO. The politician supported the US demand for European countries to spend more money on defense, noting that now the costs are unacceptably low.