40 minutes of recording were enough to cause days of scandal. Broadcast on social networks Friday March 1 by the Russian propaganda media Russia Today, an audio reveals the entirety of a conversation between German Air Force officers, particularly around the delivery of long-range missiles Taurus in Ukraine. Made by “Russian spies”, this recording reveals “classified details on Western involvement” in kyiv, underlines the American daily Wall Street Journal (conservative).
The conversation between German top brass “addresses, among other things, the question of whether Taurus cruise missiles would theoretically be capable of destroying the Russian-built bridge to Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, annexed in violation of international law” in 2014 , reports the German newspaper Die Welt (liberal).
Whether they are capable of it or not, the position of the German Chancellor remains the same: Olaf Scholz has refused to deliver these missiles to the Ukrainian army since the start of the war. And this, despite repeated calls from kyiv – these devices have a range of more than 500 km. “With the publication of this air force conversation, the Kremlin wants to ensure that Scholz sticks to its choice not to deliver Taurus missiles,” the daily suggests. Der Spiegel (center-left).
“Very sensitive military information”
A question remains: why is the German Chancellor refusing these deliveries? The use of the Taurus would require the presence of German soldiers on Ukrainian soil, which would make them co-belligerents, according to Berlin. Unless the Ukrainians are trained by the Bundeswehr – the German federal defense.
After the capture of Avdiïvka and the difficulties faced by the Ukrainian army on the ground, the broadcast of this audio is timely. Indeed, it “comes at a time when a $60 billion American aid package is blocked in Congress, leading to a shortage of arms and ammunition on the front lines,” observes The Washington Post (Center-right).
In the recording, participants also discuss details of deliveries and use of long-range Scalp missiles by France and Great Britain. “This is very sensitive military information […] for the Federal Government, the Federal Chancellor and the entire Western Alliance”, maintains the Rheinische Post (center-left).
Germany, Putin’s new target?
For the German daily, this “wiretapping scandal” highlights the shortcomings of the German government in terms of security. Worse, the Rheinische Post accuses “the highest circles of the Bundeswehr” of acting in a “naive and careless” manner against “the leader of the Kremlin”. “Having an Air Force Chief have a sensitive military conversation via the WebEx platform [utilisée pour les visioconférences] with his officers, one of them being in Singapore, is frightening”, denounces the newspaper.
Has Moscow taken Berlin as a new target? “Putin sees Germany at war with Russia for a long time,” says Rheinische Post. But a step seems to have been taken and, within the German government, the fear of escalation is felt.
“This is a hybrid disinformation attack that aims to destabilize us,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said, according to German TV Tagesschau. The Kremlin’s objective seems obvious, according to Der Spiegel : it is no longer “only a question of discrediting the Bundeswehr, but also the Chancellor himself”.