2024-03-02 09:26:45
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (right) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin, February 16, 2024. MARKUS SCHREIBER / AP
The German Ministry of Defense announced on Saturday March 2 that it was investigating possible wiretapping of confidential discussions between high-ranking officers of its air force on the war in Ukraine.
The case emerged after the broadcast on social networks, according to German media, by Russian accounts close to the Kremlin, of what strongly resembles the recording of a conversation between German officers. The latter speak in particular of the hypothesis of the use by the Ukrainian forces of long-range Taurus missiles, of German manufacture, and of their possible impact, in particular if they were to target targets such as the Crimean bridge connecting the peninsula from Kerch, Crimea, to the west, and Russian territory.
Experts interviewed by the weekly The mirror believed the recording to be authentic. “We are examining whether communications linked to the air force have been tapped, military counter-espionage (BAMAD) has taken all necessary measures”a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
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Structural safety problem?
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 newspapers of the RND group. “The question arises as to whether this is an exceptional case or a structural security problem” within the German army, he added.
An expert on defense issues from the main opposition party CDU (conservatives), Roderich Kiesewetter, estimated that “the conversion was purposely publicized by Russia at this precise moment with a very specific objective”that of nipping in the bud 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.
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According to Spiegelthe discussion between officers lasts half an hour and emanates from a video conference on the public platform WebEx and not from a secret internal army network, which raises questions about internal security standards in the Bundeswehr.
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