In a massive embarrassment for Berlin, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a complete investigation on Saturday after what looked to be a recording of classified army meetings on the Ukraine war was broadcast on Russian social media.
The German Bundeswehr was planning to destroy the Crimean Bridge, the same one Ukraine admitted to bombing, with possible involvement from US and British troops – or so claims the editor-in-chief of Russia Today, Margarita Simonyan, citing a nearly 40-minute leaked audio she says she possesses.
Simonyan went on to submit official inquiries to German diplomatic figures, seeking clarification about the issue that would impact Russian-German relations, as well as NATO’s involvement in the Ukraine war.
The leak, which is 38 minutes long and dated February 19, reveals officers discussing the operational and targeting details of the homegrown Taurus long-range missiles, which Germany was mulling sending to Ukraine. Interestingly, the way it was being discussed insinuated that it had already been agreed upon.
The officers were also discussing means of maintaining plausible deniability so that Germany could tread as closely as possible to the “red line” of direct involvement without crossing it.
During his trip to Rome, Scholz told reporters the matter was “very serious” and was being investigated “carefully, very intensively, and very quickly.”
The German Welt newspaper said Friday evening that the audio, currently making its rounds throughout the Bundeswehr, was currently “classified as authentic” after it was closely examined.
Der Spiegel also came out as saying the recording was “classified as authentic” and that “according to an initial assessment, AI-supported counterfeiting is largely ruled out.”
As German counterintelligence immediately began investigating the audio, the German Defense Ministry refused to address its contents, though it noted that the military was “checking whether communications within the Air Force were intercepted.”
Tino Chrupalla, a co-chair of Germany’s far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD), warned on Saturday that Germany could be drawn into the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev if it proceeds with the transfer of its Taurus missiles to Ukraine.
German lawmakers voted last week against a motion presented by the opposition to supply Kiev with long-range Taurus missiles, two years into the ongoing war.
Green party politician Konstantin von Notz told the RND broadcaster that “if the story turns out to be true, it would be a highly problematic event.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed that the leak is proof Ukraine and its supporters “do not want to change their course at all, and want to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield.”
Maria Zakharova, the Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, remarked that if Germany did not “promptly” provide an explanation for the talks, this would be considered “an admission of guilt.”
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev wrote on Telegram that the Germans have “again turned into our sworn enemies.”
Roderich Kiesewetter of Germany’s opposition conservatives warned that other tapes may be exposed, telling German media outlet ZDF that “a number of other conversations will certainly have been intercepted and may be leaked at a later date for Russia’s benefit.”
He speculated that the conversation may have been “deliberately leaked” to prevent the delivery of Taurus missiles by Germany.
source: AlMayadeen
