This is a very serious matter and we will clarify it soon

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised to clarify the issue that quickly arose after Russia published a conversation between German air force officers discussing support for Ukraine.

Speaking on the sidelines of his visit to the Vatican, Chancellor Solz spoke about “A very serious matter». The conversation between German defense officials was announced on Friday by the head of the Russian state television network RT, Margarita Simonyan.

In it, high-ranking Air Force officers discuss the theoretical possibilities of possibly deploying German Taurus cruise missiles in Ukraine. Soltz has repeatedly ruled that out Possibility of delivering Taurus missiles to UkraineDespite repeated requests from Kiev, expressing concerns that Germany could be drawn deeper into the war launched by the Kremlin in February 2022.

The German Defense Ministry said later in the day that it believed an internal conversation between high-ranking Air Force officers had been intercepted.

“In our assessment, the conversation has been intercepted [μεταξύ αξιωματούχων της Πολεμικής Αεροπορίας]. A ministry spokesman in Berlin told the German news agency: “At the moment we cannot say with certainty whether changes have been made to the recorded or written version circulating on social media.” The quote also included a diplomatically sensitive reference to the presence of the British “some people on the ground” in Ukraine in connection with the deployment of British Storm Shadow cruise missiles in the country.

The report comes in the wake of anger in Britain over what London saw as recklessness on Soltz's part.

Schulz had stated, in the context of the Taurus discussion, that “what the British and French are doing in terms of target control and target control escort cannot be done by Germany,” without going into further details.

Some see the statement as a signal that French and British forces support control of cruise missiles supplied by Ukraine. London immediately denied this had happened.

When asked by a German agency correspondent today about the possible diplomatic repercussions of eavesdropping on the conversation with the German armed forces, Schulz said: “That is why the matter is now being clarified very carefully, very intensively and very quickly. This is also necessary.”

Air Force Inspector General Ingo Gerharz was among those present at the meeting, which was said to be preparation for a briefing by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.

The conversation heard on the recording concerns whether Taurus cruise missiles would theoretically be able to destroy the bridge built between Russia and Ukraine's Crimea, which Moscow annexed in violation of international law. The conversation also concerns whether Ukraine could carry out the strike without the participation of the German armed forces. It is clear in the recording that German MPs do not want to give Kiev cruise missiles.

Sources told German news agency DPA earlier today that the recording was real and that the conversation took place on Webex, an American-made online conferencing platform.

the The German Defense Ministry is investigating whether the conversation was intercepted. A military spokesman said, yesterday evening, Friday, that “the Federal Office of the Military Counter-Espionage Service took all necessary measures.”

German lawmakers responded with calls for improvements. “We urgently need to strengthen our security and counter-espionage because we are clearly vulnerable in this area,” Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, chair of the Bundestag Defense Committee, told German news agency RND.

“The question is whether this was an isolated incident or whether there is a structural security problem,” said Konstantin von Noch, head of the parliamentary audit committee.

The revelation of the case sparked speculation about its timing, with Strack-Zimmerman speculating that Russia aims to prevent SOLZ from supplying Taurus missiles to Kiev. She told RND that espionage is “part of Russia's hybrid warfare tools,” adding that it was not surprising that the talks were intercepted. “It was only a matter of time before it became public knowledge,” he added.

Others have speculated that the leak may be an attempt by Russia to divert public debate from recent revelations or from the funeral of dissident Alexei Navalny.

Source: RES-MPE

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