A “Taurus” delivery to Ukraine is apparently more complicated than known – and could weaken Germany’s defense capability. This is reported by the media, citing the Defense Committee. Its members suspect betrayal of secrets.
According to media reports, there may have been a betrayal of secrets at the special meeting of the Defense Committee on the possible delivery of “Taurus” cruise missiles to Ukraine. Specifically, information from the secret part of the meeting is said to have been passed on to the t-online portal.
Not enough facilities for goal planning
The content is about technical details about the target data planning of the missiles. Inspector General Carsten Breuer explained to the committee that the use of the “Taurus” is more complicated than is publicly known. This would require large and complex amounts of data, which obviously have to be processed by special technical systems. However, these technical systems only exist to a limited extent in the Bundeswehr.
If these were delivered to Ukraine, they would no longer be available to the Bundeswehr – and could therefore permanently weaken Germany’s defense capability, said Breuer, according to the report. It’s about “elementary questions of national security,” reports an insider.
Leak supports Chancellor’s course
The argument based on Germany’s security interests would be another, not yet publicly stated, reason for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s negative attitude towards a delivery to Ukraine. So far, Scholz has primarily argued that target control – which is intended to exclude deployment against Russian territory – could only be possible with the help of Bundeswehr soldiers. This could mean that Germany could become a direct party to the war. However, Bundeswehr officers and politicians from the traffic light coalition contradict this representation.
The leaked information would initially support the Chancellor’s position, reports the Süddeutsche Zeitung. The suspicion is therefore also expressed internally that the information could have been passed on by the Chancellor’s supporters.
At the same time, a possible ring exchange with Great Britain would be obsolete, because in this case the data systems would also have to be handed over. The Greens in particular recently brought this possibility back into play. The British are to receive “Taurus” and in return deliver more “Storm Shadow” cruise missiles to Ukraine.
Strack-Zimmermann speaks of “betrayal of secrets”
However, piercing the information about the “Taurus” could have repercussions. The chairwoman of the Defense Committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, announced consistent steps to address a possible betrayal of secrets. She told the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” that Bundestag President Bärbel Bas would be informed immediately and the whole thing would then be “handed over to the federal police or public prosecutor’s office.”
The FDP politician added: “Revealing information from a secret meeting is a no-go.” She hopes “that we identify the person in question and that they will then feel the consequences.” The Union politician Johann Wadephul is also in favor of proceedings for betrayal of secrets.
The committee meeting was scheduled last Monday in response to a Russian eavesdropping attack on a group of four Bundeswehr officers. In the intercepted meeting they discussed the possible use of “Taurus” by the Ukrainian army. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius was also present.
Is there secret knowledge about the “Taurus”?
In another Bundestag vote on “Taurus” deliveries, which the Union had scheduled on Wednesday, Scholz then accused CDU foreign politician Norbert Röttgen of having secret knowledge on the subject of “Taurus” but which could not be discussed openly . “But what annoys me, dear MP, dear Norbert, is that you know everything and engage in public communication that is based on the fact that your knowledge is not public knowledge. I believe that should not be the case in a democracy,” said Scholz.
Röttgen said on Thursday that he had “no special knowledge” about the cruise missile. With the accusation, however, Scholz “brought a new topic into the debate”, with a view to the fact that such knowledge apparently exists.