German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised on Saturday (Mar 2) a full investigation after a recording of confidential army talks on the Ukraine war was circulated on Russian social media, in a huge embarrassment for Berlin.
A German Defence Ministry spokeswoman confirmed to AFP that the ministry believed a conversation in the Air Force division was “intercepted”.
“We are currently unable to say for certain whether changes were made to the recorded or transcribed version that is circulating on social media,” the spokeswoman said.
The head of Russia’s state-backed RT channel, Margarita Simonyan, posted on Friday the 38-minute audio recording of what she claimed were German army officers discussing potential strikes on Crimea in a Feb 19 videoconference.
In the recording, discussions can be heard on the possible use by Ukrainian forces of German-made Taurus missiles and their potential impact.
Topics included aiming the missiles at targets such as a key bridge over the Kerch strait linking the Russian mainland to Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.
The discussions also cover the use of missiles provided to Kyiv by France and Britain.
Kyiv has long been calling on Germany to provide it with Taurus missiles, which can reach targets up to 500km away.
“SWORN ENEMIES”
Scholz has so far refused to send the missiles, worried that it would lead to an escalation of the conflict.
“What is being reported is a very serious matter and that is why it is now being investigated very carefully, very intensively and very quickly,” Scholz said during a visit to Rome on Saturday.
Germany’s ARD broadcaster described the leak as a “catastrophe” for the German secret services.
According to Der Spiegel magazine, the videoconference was held on the WebEx platform, and not on a secret internal army network.
“If this story turns out to be true, it would be a highly problematic event,” Green party politician Konstantin von Notz told the RND broadcaster.
Speaking at a diplomatic forum in Türkiye on Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the recording indicated that Ukraine and its backers “do not want to change their course at all, and want to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield”.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova demanded that Germany “promptly” provide explanations for the discussion.
“Attempts to avoid answering the questions will be regarded as an admission of guilt,” she said.
“Our age-old rivals – the Germans – have again turned into our sworn enemies,” former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy head of the Security Council, wrote in a Telegram post.
Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/germany-caught-out-leak-secret-ukraine-war-talks-4165796