Germany’s credibility among allies not hurt by leaked Taurus talks — defense minister

Publications 5 March, 2024 20:50

The leak of a conversation among senior Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces) officers, who were discussing a potential Ukrainian strike on Russia’s Crimean Bridge using German-supplied Taurus missiles, has not damaged Germany’s credibility among its partners, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said.

"Yesterday, I had telephone talks with partners and colleagues in other countries. Germany’s credibility has not been impaired," he said. "Everybody understands the risks of such wiretapping attacks and knows that it is impossible to guarantee 100-percent protection. Our partners know that we are thoroughly investigating this incident."

Germany’s Bild newspaper reported on March 4 that Western security services are opting not to share information with Germany for fear that such data could be wiretapped by Russia, since, according to the newspaper, few high-ranking German officers can afford using secure links.

RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan said on March 1 that on the very day that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was giving public assurances that NATO was not now and would not in the future be directly involved in the Ukraine conflict, Germany’s top brass was in fact mulling how to carry out a potential attack on the Crimean Bridge in a way that would have no repercussions for Berlin by giving it the cover of plausible deniability. Simonyan said she had a corroborating audio recording of the Bundeswehr officers’ conversation in her possession. She later released a transcript of it, which makes it clear that the military officers discussed the Taurus missiles’ capability to hit and destroy the Crimean Bridge and the tactical details involved in preparing such an attack.

On March 4, the Russian Foreign Ministry delivered a demarche to German Ambassador to Moscow Alexander Lambsdorff and demanded explanations of the circumstances of the leaked conversation.