Berlin on alert with “very serious” leak of information from senior military officers

The German army is investigating an alleged wiretap of a conversation between several high-ranking Air Force officers, made public Friday by the Russian press, as alarm grows that this may not be a unique case.

“The Agency for the Military Protection Service (BAMAD) has taken all necessary measures,” a spokeswoman for the German Ministry of Defense told the publication “T-online”.

According to sources from the weekly “Spiegel”, the ministry is alarmed by the possibility that the recorded conversation is real and that there have been other wiretaps of internal conversations in the armed forces.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced today that Germany is conducting an in-depth investigation into a leak of information from army officers who discussed confidential matters related to the war in Ukraine.

Olaf Scholz, in Rome at the congress of European socialists, also reacted in the meantime, saying that “a very serious matter is at stake and that is why it is being investigated very carefully, very thoroughly and very quickly”.

Ukraine is the topic of conversation

Russian state broadcaster RT (formerly “Russia Today”) published on Friday a 30-minute audio recording in which the head of the German air force, Ingo Gerhartz, is allegedly heard speaking to several high-ranking officers about the possibility of supplying Taurus missiles to Ukraine.

The interlocutors discuss, among other things, the technical options for destroying the Kerch bridge, which connects the Crimean peninsula to the mainland, or the Russian weapons depots with this weaponry, although they recognize that there is no ‘green light’ for the supply of the missiles.

The publication of the conversation comes at a particularly sensitive time for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government, which this week caused controversy by stating that Berlin cannot hand over the Taurus to Ukraine, at the risk of becoming a direct participant in the conflict.

Scholz argued that Kiev will not be able to operate these systems without the help of German soldiers — a “red line” for Berlin — but the audio released by RT appears to contradict this statement.

Safety oversights

According to “Spiegel” sources, the German Ministry of Defense assumes that the audio is real and has not been manipulated with artificial intelligence tools.

Apparently the conversation — which, according to RT, took place on January 19 — was not done over a secure line, but rather via the WebEx video conferencing platformwhile one of the participants connected via cell phone.

“If this story is confirmed, it will be a very problematic event.”said the president of the parliamentary control group of the Bundestag (lower house of parliament), the green Konstantin von Notz.

“The question that arises is whether this is an isolated event or a structural security problem. I hope the issue is clarified urgently.”van Notz said Friday to RND.

Russia wants explanations

In Moscow, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova publicly asked her German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, for an explanation of the audio’s content.

Meanwhile, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev drew parallels with the Second World War and stated that it is not possible “react diplomatically” to such a revelation, ending his message with an appeal to “death of fascist German occupiers”.

News updated at 1:45 pm with statements from Olaf Scholz