German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised Saturday a full investigation after a recording of confidential military talks on the Ukraine warfare was circulated on Russian social media, in an enormous embarrassment for Berlin.
A German defence ministry spokeswoman confirmed to AFP that the ministry believed a dialog within the air drive 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 stated.
The head of Russia’s state-backed RT channel, Margarita Simonyan, posted Friday the 38-minute audio recording of what she claimed had been German military officers discussing potential strikes on Crimea in a February 19 videoconference.
In the recording, discussions could be heard on the doable use by Ukrainian forces of German-made Taurus missiles and their potential influence.
Topics included aiming the missiles at targets akin to a key bridge over the Kerch strait linking the Russian mainland to Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.
The discussions additionally cowl the usage of missiles offered to Kyiv by France and Britain.
Kyiv has lengthy been calling on Germany to offer it with Taurus missiles, which may attain targets as much as 500 kilometres (300 miles) away.
Scholz has up to now refused to ship the missiles, nervous that it will result in an escalation of the battle.
“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 stated throughout a go to to Rome on Saturday.
Germany’s ARD broadcaster described the leak as a “catastrophe” for the German secret companies.
According to Der Spiegel journal, the videoconference was held on the WebEx platform, and never on a secret inner military community.
“If this story turns out to be true, it would be a highly problematic event,” Green occasion politician Konstantin von Notz instructed the RND broadcaster.
Speaking at a diplomatic discussion board in Turkey on Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated 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” present explanations for the dialogue.
“Attempts to avoid answering the questions will be regarded as an admission of guilt,” she stated.
“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 put up.
The acquisition of German Taurus missiles would supply an enormous increase for Ukraine as Kyiv struggles to fend off Russia’s invasion.
France and Britain have equipped Kyiv with SCALP and Storm Shadow missiles, each of which have a variety of about 250 kilometres.
But Scholz stated final week that Germany couldn’t justify matching British and French strikes in sending long-range missiles to Ukraine and supporting the weapon system’s deployment.
“This is a very long-range weapon, and what the British and French are doing in terms of targeting and supporting targeting cannot be done in Germany,” Scholz stated, with out specifying precisely what he meant.
Britain denied that it had any direct involvement in working the missiles.
“Ukraine’s use of Storm Shadow and its targeting processes are the business of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” a Ministry of Defence spokesperson stated in an announcement to AFP.
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, chair of the defence committee in Germany’s parliament, stated Moscow’s intention was “obvious”.
Scholz is being “warned against” supplying Ukraine with Taurus missiles, she stated.
“We urgently need to increase our security and counterintelligence, because we are obviously vulnerable in this area,” she instructed the Funke media group.
Roderich Kiesewetter, from Germany’s opposition conservatives, warned that additional recordings may additionally be leaked.
“A number of other conversations will certainly have been intercepted and may be leaked at a later date for Russia’s benefit,” he instructed broadcaster ZDF.
Source: www.anews.com.tr