armed forces
Luftwaffe recording: Scholz promises quick clarification
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected a possible delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine (archive photo). photo
© Bundeswehr/Bundeswehr/dpa
A Russian propagandist publishes an audio file of a conversation between German officers about the Taurus weapons system. The Chancellor speaks of a “very serious matter”.
The head of the Russian state broadcaster RT, Margarita Simonjan, published an audio recording of the approximately 30-minute conversation on Friday, which may have been intercepted. In it, senior Air Force officers can be heard discussing the theoretical possibilities of using German Taurus cruise missiles by Ukraine. According to dpa information, the conversation is authentic. The officers connected via the Webex platform.
The German Ministry of Defense is now checking whether communications within the Air Force were intercepted. “The Federal Office for the Military Counterintelligence Service (BAMAD) has initiated all necessary measures,” said a spokeswoman for the ministry on Friday evening. “We cannot say anything about the content of the communication that was apparently intercepted.”
Security politicians are alarmed
Security politicians demanded consequences. “We urgently need to increase our security and counter-espionage because we are obviously vulnerable in this area,” said the chairwoman of the Bundestag’s defense committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, to the editorial network Germany (RND). The deputy Union parliamentary group leader Johann Wadephul called on the federal government to tighten the regulations for the protection of communications.
Green politician Konstantin von Notz told the RND: “The question arises as to whether this is a one-off event or a structural security problem.” The chairman of the Parliamentary Control Committee demanded that he expects “immediate clarification of all background information.”
Details about Taurus and explosive statements about allies
Air Force Inspector Ingo Gerhartz, among others, took part in the conversation. It is said to have served as preparation for a briefing for Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD). The exchange documented in the audio file addresses, among other things, the question of whether Taurus cruise missiles would be technically capable of destroying the bridge built by Russia to the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed in violation of international law. Another point is whether Ukraine could carry out the shelling without the participation of the Bundeswehr. However, it can also be heard in the recording that there is no green light at the political level for the delivery of the cruise missiles demanded by Kiev.
What is explosive is that there is talk of the British having “a few people on site” in connection with the use of their Storm Shadow cruise missiles delivered to Ukraine. There had just been anger in Great Britain over a statement made by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, which some interpreted as an indiscretion. “What the British and French are doing in terms of target control and the accompaniment of target control cannot be done in Germany,” said the SPD politician. He left it open what exactly he meant by that. However, the sentence was understood by some as an indication that the French and British would support the control of their Storm Shadow and Scalp cruise missiles, which were delivered to Ukraine, with their own forces. A spokesman for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak immediately denied this: “Ukraine’s use of the Storm Shadow long-range missile system and the target selection process are the responsibility of the Ukrainian armed forces.”
Kiesewetter: Moscow wants to stop Taurus deliveries with a leak
The CDU defense expert Roderich Kiesewetter told the news portal “ZDFHeute” with regard to the publication: “One must assume that the conversation was specifically leaked by Russia at this point in time with a specific intention. This can only be to create a Taurus To prevent delivery through Germany.”
Strack-Zimmermann also sees the reason for the publication as Russia wanting to deter Chancellor Scholz from giving the green light for the delivery of Taurus. She told the RND that espionage is “part of Russia’s hybrid warfare toolbox.” It is neither surprising nor surprising that conversations are being intercepted. “It was just a matter of time before it became public.”
Kiesewetter expects that a number of other conversations were intercepted and may later be leaked for Russia’s benefit. He also suspects: “This Bundeswehr leak may be a Russian attempt to steer the public debate away from the Wirecard revelations and the funeral of Alexei Navalny.”
Scholz has repeatedly emphasized that he is against the delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. This position is also controversial within his own traffic light coalition. The Chancellor justifies this with the danger that Germany could be drawn into the war of aggression started by Russia.
The Union’s defense policy spokesman, Florian Hahn, now demanded that the Chancellor explain himself to the Bundestag’s Defense Committee. From his point of view, the alleged Air Force conversation underlines that a use of Taurus by the Ukrainians would be possible even without Bundeswehr personnel on site. “If the recording is real, the Chancellor’s statements from this week are not only inappropriate, but false,” the CSU politician told the German Press Agency. Minister Pistorius was explicitly informed about the Taurus, including its possible uses. “It is therefore hard to imagine that Scholz knew nothing about this military assessment.” Although he considers forward-looking military planning to be quite normal, clarification is required here. “I expect Chancellor Scholz to speak on this in the Defense Committee.”