The German defense ministry on Saturday said it was checking whether a confidential videoconference on the Ukraine war had been wiretapped after a recording was posted on Russian social media.
The head of Russia's state-backed RT channel, Margarita Simonyan, on Friday, posted a 38-minute audio recording of what she claimed were German officers discussing striking Crimea.
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“We are investigating whether communications in the air force sector were intercepted,” a spokeswoman for the defense ministry told AFP.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday said Germany would fully investigate the apparent leak of a recording of army officers discussing confidential details of the Ukraine war.
“What is being reported is a very serious matter and that is why it is now being investigated very carefully, very intensively and very quickly,” Scholz said on a visit to Rome.
In the recording, discussions can be heard on the possible use by Ukrainian forces of German-made Taurus missiles and their potential impact.
Other topics include aiming the missiles at targets such as a key bridge linking Russian-occupied Crimea to the Russian mainland over the Kerch strait.
Experts consulted by Der Spiegel magazine said they believed the recording was authentic.
Kyiv has long been clamoring for Germany to provide it with Taurus missiles, which can reach targets up to 500 kilometers (about 300 miles) away.
Election-Bound Germany Braces for Russian Disinformation Threat
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has so far refused to send the missiles, fearing that it would lead to an escalation of the conflict.
“If this story turns out to be true, it would be a highly problematic event,” Green party politician Konstantin von Notz told the RND broadcaster.
“The question arises as to whether this is a one-off incident or a structural safety problem,” he added.
Roderich Kiesewetter, from the opposition conservatives, warned that further recordings may also be leaked.
“A number of other conversations will certainly have been intercepted and may be leaked at a later date for Russia's benefit,” he told broadcaster ZDF.
It can be assumed “that the conversation was deliberately leaked by Russia at this point in time with a specific intention,” namely “to prevent Taurus delivery by Germany,” he said.
According to Der Spiegel, the videoconference was held not on a secret internal army network but on the WebEx platform.
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