France and Britain have supplied Kyiv with SCALP or Storm Shadow missiles, both of which have a range of about 250 kilometers.
- Britain denied that it had any direct involvement in operating the missiles.
- "Ukraine's use of Storm Shadow and its targeting processes are the business of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," a Ministry of Defense (MoD) spokesperson said in a statement to AFP.
"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 said, without specifying exactly what he meant.
Putin seeks to 'destablise' Germany with wiretap leak, defense minister says
Issued on: Modified:
A 38-minute recording of the talks was posted online late Friday on Russian social media, with the participants discussing the possible use of German-made Taurus missiles and their potential impact.
The discussions also covered the use of long-range missiles provided to Kyiv by France and Britain.
"It is about using this recording to destabilise and unsettle us," said German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, adding that he "hoped that Putin will not succeed".
"It is part of an information war that Putin is carrying out," he added.
Pistorius said he was not aware of any further leaks at the army.
He added that he would await the result of a military probe into the case to decide what consequences to draw. . .
Germany accuses Russia of 'information war' after spy leak
Reacting to the leak for the first time on Sunday, Pistorius accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of seeking to sow disunity and create divisions within Germany.
"It is about using this recording to destabilize and unsettle us," the German minister said, adding that he "hoped that Putin will not succeed."
What else did Pistorius say?
- He added that he was yet to receive any information about further leaks that might have been intercepted by Moscow. He said the results of an internal investigation were expected early next week.
The minister said he would not "speculate on personnel consequences" before the investigation into the matter has been concluded. He did not rule out "disciplinary action" against those who are proven to "have acted wrongly."
German defense minister: Russia running 'information war'
Improved training for senior military officers?
"Firstly, all those responsible at every level of the Bundeswehr must immediately receive comprehensive training on secure communications," Högl told the Funke group of newspapers on Sunday. "Secondly, the stable possibility for secure and secret information and communication transfer must be ensured."
If this were not already possible, Högl said, then immediate upgrades were required. The parliamentarian also advocated rapid and increased engagement in counterespionage work, particularly from the Military Counterintelligence Service known by the acronym MAD.
Germany probes Russian tapping of Ukraine talks
Opposition moots parliamentary inquest
"German soldiers can at no point and in no place be linked with the targets that this [Taurus] system reaches. Not even in Germany," Scholz had said. He claimed it was well known to military insiders that France and Britain, which have both sent similar weapons to Ukraine, had available solutions for target control problems that "can't be done in Germany."
German chancellor: 'What is being reported is very serious'
Opposition politicians in Germany told the Sunday papers that their understanding of the transcripts suggested that Scholz's claim about the need for German boots on the ground to operate Taurus missiles may have been false.
"The reports are disconcerting in two different ways," said senior Bavarian conservative CSU politician Alexander Dobrindt in an interview with Der Spiegel. "Firstly, because the Russians evidently listened in on sensitive security discussions, and also because the chancellor may have explained his refusal to send Taurus missiles with a false assertion."
Dobrindt said these questions would require investigation.
"The chancellor must explain himself in the Bundestag," he said. "Given this set of facts, a parliamentary inquest cannot be ruled out."
Taurus delivery so far refused, but not ruled out entirely
He told public broadcaster ZDF that it showed how "deeply" Russian spy services had already investigated German communications on this matter, and also speculated that it might be a bid to "divert the public discourse away from the Wirecard revelations and the funeral of Alexei Navalny."
What is on the supposed recording of German officers?
He was referring to the death of the prominent Russian opposition leader, and the latest Russian espionage allegations concerning senior members of the online financial services provider that imploded in 2020, whose former chief sales officer Jan Marsalek is still on the run and accused of coordinating espionage for Russia in Germany and elsewhere.
The Russian leak also came during a week in which French President Emmanuel Macron had said that the stationing of NATO troops in Ukraine should not be ruled out entirely at some point in the future, given how many other red lines had already been breached in the course of the past two years amid Russia's invasion. Macron's comments prompted other NATO leaders, Scholz included, to rush to put on record that they had no intention of sending troops to Ukraine.
Although Scholz has said several times that a Taurus delivery is not currently planned, also citing the missiles' ability to reach Moscow from Ukraine, he has stopped short of ruling it out altogether. And Germany has changed its mind and sent weaponry it initially refused to send to Kyiv on multiple occasions during the conflict, with Leopard tanks arguably the best known of many such examples.
The military officials also discussed during the leak whether and how Taurus missiles could be used to destroy a bridge, seemingly referring to the Kerch bridge linking occupied Crimea to mainland Russia. Russian officials portrayed this as proof of the intent to target its territory, while NATO and most of the international community would still consider it Ukrainian territory.
What is the Taurus missile capable of?
German intelligence investigating how leak happened
The MAD military intelligence unit is trying to ascertain precisely how Russia intercepted the conversation, according to the Defense Ministry. Media reports suggest the conversation took place on the Webex communication platform and that participants may not have adequately encrypted their participation.
Meanwhile, a former special parliamentary commissioner to the Bundeswehr, Hans-Peter Bartels, said he did not expect serious personnel consequences, for instance for the most senior officer in the discussion, Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz of the Luftwaffe air force.
"The federal government will not do Putin the favor of sacking Luftwaffe generals right now," Bartles predicted, speaking to the newspaper Tagesspiegel.
msh,rmt/nm (AFP, dpa, Reuters)
HERE'S THE COUNTER-NARRATIVE:
Germany blames leak on ‘Russian information war’
Speaking at a press briefing on Sunday in Berlin, Pistorius focused on the source of the leak rather than the substance of the conversation, blaming the incident on Russian President Vladimir Putin. “It is part of an information war that Putin is waging,” the defense chief said. “There is absolutely no doubt about that. It’s a hybrid attack aimed at disinformation.”
Pistorius added that the leak aimed to create division within Germany over the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Berlin is one of Kiev’s largest foreign backers, though Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been reluctant to send Taurus long-range missiles to Ukraine on concern that such weaponry could trigger a direct conflict between Germany and Russia.
The leaked audio, released by RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan on Friday, is from a conversation between four German Air Force officers, including the Bundeswehr branch’s commander, Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz.
- The officers discussed operational and targeting details for the Taurus missiles that might be sent to Ukraine, including their possible use against the Crimean Bridge.
- They also talked about ways to maintain plausible deniability of German involvement in such an attack, to avoid sparking a wider conflict.
- The leak created a scandal in Berlin, where Scholz called it a “very serious matter” and said it was being “intensively” investigated.
- German lawmakers demanded enhanced counterintelligence efforts and suggested that Russia’s government likely has more such recordings.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned on Sunday that the leaked conversation proves Germany is preparing for war with Moscow. He added that such a conflict could be provoked against the wishes of the country’s civilian leadership. “History knows many examples when the military was capable of taking decisions for their civilian superiors about starting a war or just instigating.”
Pistorius claimed that the German Air Force officers who were caught on tape made clear that “the line of war participation . . . would not be crossed.”
==========================================================================
v
.png)
No comments:
Post a Comment