"It's something of deterrence and it's securing peace, and it is a necessary and important decision at the right time," Scholz told reporters at a NATO summit in Washington.

The United States on Wednesday announced an important step to bolster NATO against Russia in Europe by saying it would begin "episodic deployments" of long-range missiles to Germany in 2026.

The White House said it would eventually look to permanently station them in Germany, and the missiles would "have significantly longer range" than current US systems in Europe.

"Exercising these advanced capabilities will demonstrate the United States' commitment to NATO and its contributions to European integrated deterrence," it said in a joint statement with the German government.

The Kremlin on Thursday struck back, saying it was planning "response measures" to contain the "very serious threat" from NATO.

NATO countries -- spearheaded by the United States -- have bolstered their defenses in Europe in the wake of Russia's 2022 invasion of neighboring Ukraine.