Germany is investigating the leak of a conversation between several high-ranking air force officers, published by the Russian channel RT (Russia Today) on Friday. This is a 38-minute recording of an alleged conversation between senior German army officers. “According to our assessment, an air force conversation was intercepted,” a Defense Ministry spokesperson confirmed to German public broadcaster ARD on Saturday. “At the moment we cannot say for sure whether changes have been made to the recorded or transcribed version circulating on social media,” he said. “We cannot comment anything on the content of the communication, which has evidently been listened to”, he added. For his part, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz described the incident as “a very serious matter”, while some conservative opposition politicians warned that it could only be the tip of the iceberg.
“The matter is now being investigated very intensively, carefully and quickly,” Scholz said in a brief statement to the media as part of a private audience with the Pope in Rome. The digital conversation between senior German Air Force officers appears to have been overheard by the Russians on February 19 and concerned the preparation of a briefing for Defense Minister Boris Pistorius on the feasibility of a Taurus missile mission in Ukraine. The officials talk among other things about the American and British forces operating in Ukraine and discuss the possibility of training Ukrainian personnel in Germany for the Taurus mission. During the meeting, a possible attack on the Kerch bridge, which connects Russia with Crimea, was also discussed. According to German media, the conversation took place on an unsecured line.
The investigation into this wiretapping case has just begun. From Berlin they are now asking for what happened to be analysed. For the president of the Defense Commission Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, of the liberal FDP party, the incident “is neither surprising nor astonishing”, since espionage is part “of the toolbox of Russian hybrid warfare”. Strack-Zimmermann believes that one of the reasons for releasing the recording now is that Russia wants to dissuade the German Chancellor from giving the green light to the delivery of Taurus missiles to Kiev. According to him, “Germany must put an end to its naivety once and for all” and take more precautions against espionage. “Cyber attacks, espionage and disinformation are currently massive. “Germany is clearly vulnerable in this area,” the politician told German media network RND.
“This is an incident that must be taken very seriously. We must clarify as soon as possible whether this is an isolated incident or a structural security problem in the German government’s communications,” Green politician Konstantin von Notz, president of the parliamentary control commission, told ARD. doubt of an extremely serious incident for the security of Germany and its allies. This shows that Russia is using all means at its disposal to divide politically, distract from other intelligence operations and prevent further support for Ukraine. Counterintelligence must respond to this situation in close coordination with European and international partners,” he added.
The opposition has also called for the matter to be investigated. “The German army must clarify this point,” the defense chief of the conservative CDU, Roderich Kiesewetter, also told ARD. At the same time, he asked the Army to change communications technology, because in his opinion “this could be just the tip of the iceberg.”
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