​Chancellor Olaf Scholz officially announced on Saturday that Germany is thoroughly investigating the leak of a recording of German officers discussing classified materials related to the war in Ukraine, which was posted on social media by Russian propagandist Margarita Simonyan. The head of the German parliamentary commission for surveillance of special services, Konstantin von Notz, emphasized that “if this story turns out to be true, it will be very problematic.”

“This is a very serious matter, and that is why it is now the subject of a very thorough, very thorough and very quick investigation,” Scholz said during a visit to Rome after Russia Today chief Margarita Simonian posted what appeared to be a social media post. to be a recording of a conversation between high-ranking German officers, AFP reports.

What is said in the audio recording made public by Margarita Simonyan

On Friday, Simonyan published a file lasting more than half an hour, presenting it as a discussion of German soldiers regarding strikes in Crimea. This peninsula was annexed by Moscow in 2014.

In this conversation, heard by AFP but undated, the video conference participants discuss, in particular, the hypothesis that Germany would supply Kiev with long-range German-made Taurus missiles, which would be necessary to allow Ukrainian forces to use them and their ultimate effect.

Experts consider the audio recording to be authentic

Experts interviewed by the German weekly Der Spiegel recognized the file as genuine.

In particular, the participants mention the hypothesis of strikes on the Crimean bridge, which connects the Kerch Peninsula in Crimea with the west and the territory of Russia.

If the talks turn out to be genuine, they will be very embarrassing for Berlin. Because until now, Germany officially refuses any deliveries of Taurus missiles, despite the fact that they were loudly demanded by Kyiv, fearing the escalation of the war. These devices have a range of over 500 km.

In the recording, the participants also discuss the details of France and Great Britain’s supply of long-range Scalp missiles to Ukraine.

How the Russians reacted to the recording

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova asked for “quick explanations” from Germany regarding this case. “Any attempt to evade the question will be taken as an admission of guilt,” she said.

In turn, the second member of the Russian Security Council, Dmytro Medvedev, noted in his Telegram account that “our old rivals, the Germans, have again become our sworn enemies.”

“Look at how precisely and in detail the +Germans+ talk about how to hit our territory with long-range missiles, how to choose the targets to be hit, and how to inflict maximum damage on our Motherland,” he said.

Registration with German generals, possible “structural security problem”

“If this story turns out to be true, it will be very problematic,” said the president of the German parliamentary commission for surveillance of intelligence services, Konstantin von Notz, to newspapers of the RND group, according to Agerpres.

German officials, for their part, fear that this alleged interception is not an isolated one.

“The question is whether this is an exceptional case or a problem of structural security” in the German army, added Konstantin von Notz.

Roderich Kiesewetter, a defense expert from the main opposition CDU (conservative party), said that “the conversion was deliberately spread by Russia at this very moment with a very specific goal, namely to derail the debate in Germany over the delivery of Taurus missiles. To Kyiv.

Other conversations were certainly listened to and will be broadcast later in the interests of Russia,” he said on ZDF.

According to Spiegel, the discussion between German officers originated from a video conference on the public WebEx platform and not from the army’s internal secret network, raising questions about internal security regulations in the Bundeswehr.

The German Defense Ministry has not commented on reports of a conversation between high-ranking German military officials about plans to attack the Crimean bridge with the possible use of Taurus missiles, a recording of which Der Spiegel magazine reports is believed to be authentic. adds the official Russian news agency TASS on Saturday.

“Please understand that we do not, in principle, comment on press reports and their content,” a representative of the German Defense Ministry told the TASS correspondent.

In turn, the press secretary of the President of Russia, Dmytro Peskov, told reporters that the Kremlin does not yet have information about the content of the recording of the conversation between German officers about the attack on the Crimean bridge. The President of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, said that the issue of discussing the attack on the Crimean bridge by high-ranking German officers will be considered at the next meeting of the lower house of the Russian parliament.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has repeatedly emphasized that he is against the supply of Taurus missiles to Ukraine. Scholz argues his position by the danger of involving Germany in the conflict. On Thursday, during a conversation with citizens in Dresden, the head of the German government again opposed the supply of Taurus to Kyiv, explaining that if they are incorrectly programmed, the missiles could hit targets in Moscow, TASS adds.