The case emerged after the broadcast, according to German media, on Russian social media accounts close to the Kremlin, of what strongly resembles the recording of a conversation between German officers. The editor-in-chief of Russian state channel RT, Margarita Simonyan, published a file lasting more than half an hour, presenting it as an exchange between German military personnel discussing strikes targeting Crimea. This peninsula was annexed in 2014 by Moscow.
The latter speak in particular of the hypothesis of the use by the Ukrainian forces of long-range Taurus missiles, of German manufacture, of their possible impact, in particular if they were to target targets such as the Crimean bridge connecting the peninsula of Kerch, Crimea, to the west, and Russian territory. They also discuss details of deliveries of long-range Scalp missiles by France and Great Britain to Ukraine.
Authentic recording
Experts interviewed by the weekly Der Spiegel considered the recording to be authentic. Ukraine has long been asking Germany for these missiles with a range of more than 500 km, but Berlin has so far refused, citing the risk of escalation of the conflict.
“If this story is true, it would be highly problematic,” declared the chairman of the German parliamentary committee for monitoring the secret services, Konstantin von Notz, to the RND group newspapers. “The question arises whether this is an exceptional matter or a structural security problem” within the German army, he added. German officials fear that this alleged tapping is not isolated.
In Moscow, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova demanded “rapid explanations from Germany” on this matter. “Any attempt to avoid answering questions will be considered an admission of guilt,” she said.
For his part, the number two of the Russian Security Council Dmitri Medvedev judged on his Telegram account that “our long-time rivals, the Germans, have once again become our sworn enemies”. “Look at how precisely in what detail the “chleus” are talking about hitting our territory with long-range missiles, choosing targets to hit and how to inflict maximum damage on our homeland,” he said.
Secret discussion on a public… platform
An expert on defense issues from the main opposition party CDU (conservatives), Roderich Kiesewetter, estimated that “the conversion was deliberately spread by Russia at this precise moment with a very specific objective”, that of killing in the egg the debate in Germany around the delivery of Taurus missiles to kyiv. “Other conversations were certainly listened to and will be broadcast later to serve Russia’s interests,” he told the ZDF channel.