Ministry of Defense confirms an interception case within the Air Force | EUROtoday

DThe Federal Ministry of Defense has confirmed a wiretapping incident within the Air Force. “According to our assessment, a conversation in the air force area was intercepted,” a ministry spokeswoman advised the AFP information company on Saturday. The ministry didn’t present any details about the content material of the dialog; the matter was being additional examined, the spokeswoman mentioned.

On Friday, the top of the Russian state broadcaster RT (previously Russia Today), Margarita Simonjan, printed an audio recording of a dialog that was roughly 38 minutes lengthy and should have been intercepted. In this, senior Air Force officers will be heard discussing the theoretical prospects of Ukraine utilizing Taurus cruise missiles.

“Comrades with epaulets gave me something very interesting,” she wrote on Telegram on Friday. This refers to secret service brokers, presumably these from the GRU navy intelligence service, which is accountable, amongst different issues, for the corresponding investigation.

On Saturday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz additionally commented on the incident and promised a fast clarification. On the sidelines of a go to to the Vatican, the SPD politician spoke of a “very serious matter” on Saturday. The Chancellor mentioned that speedy clarification was additionally essential with a view to doable overseas coverage harm. The FAZ discovered from authorities circles that the incident didn’t change the latter's stance to not ship Taurus cruise missiles to Kiev.

Air Force Inspector Gerhartz is claimed to have taken half within the dialog

Air Force Inspector Ingo Gerhartz is claimed to have additionally taken half within the dialog; it was mentioned to have been held in preparation for a briefing for Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD). As will be heard on the audio file, the interlocutors mentioned, amongst different issues, the query of whether or not Taurus cruise missiles would theoretically be technically able to destroying the bridge to Crimea constructed by Russia and whether or not Ukraine would have the ability to take action with out the participation of the Bundeswehr location can be. In the recording it’s also possible to hear that there is no such thing as a political approval for a Taurus supply.

It is not any shock that these accountable within the Bundeswehr are comprehensively inspecting and discussing which German weapon programs can be utilized in Ukraine's protection in opposition to Russia. This additionally occurs within the Chancellery, whatever the political choices about what Berlin can and desires to supply and what not.

For Scholz, the method is critical and problematic as a result of it may be exploited by Russian propaganda. In the sense that Scholz introduced that Ukraine wouldn’t obtain any Taurus cruise missiles, however the navy was already inspecting which targets they might obtain.

According to what the FAZ has discovered from federal authorities circles, this conclusion remains to be incorrect. The Chancellor stays agency in his rejection. Both his occasion, the SPD, and the Social Democratic parliamentary group assist Scholz in his rejection of the supply of Taurus cruise missiles. Only not too long ago each SPD chairman Lars Klingbeil and parliamentary group chief Rolf Mützenich confirmed this. Pressure to make the Taurus obtainable to Kiev comes not solely from the Union faction, but in addition from the ranks of the SPD's two coalition companions, the Greens and the FDP.

Kiesewetter: Targeted affect on the Taurus debate

Politicians from the Union and the Greens had been involved in regards to the publication of the dialog. The chairman of the Parliamentary Control Committee of the Bundestag, the Green Party politician Konstantin von Notz, advised the editorial community Germany: “If this story turns out to be true, it would be a highly problematic process.” He expects all background data to be clarified instantly and thus additionally the query of whether or not it it’s an remoted case or a structural drawback within the Bundeswehr.