German Defense Minister accuses Russia of information war after wiretap leak

DW (English)

Germany's Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has accused Russia of conducting an information war aimed at creating divisions within Germany after a leaked discussion between German generals was published by the Russian state broadcaster RT. The officers discussed the potential use of German-made long-range Taurus missiles to attack the Kerch bridge linking Russia to occupied Crimea.

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00:00 >> And DW's political correspondent, Emily Gordine, is with me here in the studio.

00:05 Emily, tell me more about what we heard from the German defense minister there.

00:08 Did he give any additional details of how this conversation was wiretapped?

00:13 >> No, essentially, he is not commenting on the ongoing investigation.

00:18 He also has not said whether anyone will be fired.

00:21 So far, that has not happened.

00:23 Essentially, he called this recording a hybrid attack aimed at disinformation.

00:29 Ultimately, based on this recording, Russia is claiming that Germany is planning an attack

00:34 on Russian targets.

00:36 That is simply false information.

00:39 This meeting, the recording, in this recording, you hear German officials talk about a meeting

00:45 that they will have in the future with Boris Pistorius, the German defense minister that

00:49 we just heard, who wanted a deep dive into the Taurus missile.

00:53 So if there would be a green light in the future at some point, so this is a scenario

00:58 that they're working through, what are the options in terms of delivering this Taurus?

01:02 What are the technical sides?

01:03 What are the requirements here?

01:08 And what effect would this have?

01:09 >> I mean, this has been quite a scandal here in Germany.

01:13 Can you tell us what kind of political blowback we've seen from this conversation being published?

01:18 >> Well, the opposition is framing this in the sense that it is targeting the credibility

01:23 of the Chancellor Olaf Scholz because over the past few weeks and months, he has refused

01:29 to send Taurus missiles to Ukraine based on the presumption that it would require German

01:34 soldiers on the ground in Ukraine.

01:37 The recording, if you listen to it carefully, officials actually challenge that presumption.

01:45 They actually argue that it is possible to deliver these missiles without German involvement

01:48 on the ground.

01:50 And essentially the opposition is asking or is demanding an inquiry into this.

01:54 And that would answer two things.

01:56 One, how was this even possible?

01:58 How was this recording, you know, how was the Russian side able to record this meeting?

02:04 And B, was the Chancellor or is the Chancellor misleading the public when it comes to the

02:09 delivery of Taurus missiles?

02:11 >> And do you think this will have any impact then on Germany's support for Ukraine and

02:15 the likelihood of deliveries of those missiles?

02:18 >> So when it comes to the support of Ukraine, it won't change anything.

02:22 Germany is dedicated to supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes.

02:27 That's what we keep hearing from German politicians.

02:31 When it comes to the Taurus, though, we've heard already from Chancellor Scholz that

02:35 he has not changed his mind on this.

02:38 Essentially, he is concerned about an escalation of the war and by delivering these weapons,

02:43 he is concerned that that would make Germany a party in this war.

02:46 So he is still blocking the delivery of these weapons.

02:49 >> Emily, thank you very much for that.

02:51 That is Emily Gordine.

02:52 (scratching)

02:55 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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