Russian President Vladimir Putin is seeking to sow disunity with the wiretap leak of a confidential German army discussion on the Ukraine war, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Sunday.
‘Putin Will Not Succeed’
‘It is about using this recording to destabilise and unsettle us,’ said the German minister, adding that he ‘hoped that Putin will not succeed’.
The German defence 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.
How The Incident Unfolds
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, which has been occupied by Russia since 2014.
‘We are investigating whether communications in the air force sector were intercepted,’ a spokeswoman for the defence ministry told AFP.
Details of The Recording
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.
As it is
Experts consulted by Der Spiegel magazine said they believed the recording was authentic.
Kyiv has long been clamouring for Germany to provide it with Taurus missiles, which can reach targets up about 300 miles away.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has so far refused to send the missiles, fearing that it would lead to an escalation of the conflict.
