The German Bundeswehr was planning to destroy the Crimean Bridge, the same one Ukraine admitted to bombing, with possible involvement from US and British troops - or so claims the editor-in-chief of Russia Today, Margarita Simonyan, citing a nearly 40-minute leaked audio she says she possesses.

Simonyan went on to submit official inquiries to German diplomatic figures, seeking clarification about the issue that would terribly impact Russian-German relations, as well as NATO's involvement in the Ukraine war.

The leak, which is 38 minutes long and dated February 19, reveals officers discussing the operational and targeting details of the homegrown Taurus long-range missiles, which Germany was mulling sending to Ukraine. Interestingly, the way it was being discussed insinuated that it had already been agreed upon.

The officers were also discussing means of maintaining plausible deniability so that Germany could tread as closely as possible to the "red line" of direct involvement without crossing it.

Although no official statement has come out from Berlin just yet, preliminary examinations of the audio recording by German media outlets suggest that it is genuine.

The German Welt newspaper said Friday evening that the audio, currently making its rounds throughout the Bundeswehr, was currently "classified as authentic" after it was closely examined.

Der Spiegel also came out as saying the recording was "classified as authentic" and that "according to an initial assessment, AI-supported counterfeiting is largely ruled out."

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As German counterintelligence immediately began investigating the audio, the German Defense Ministry refused to address its contents, though it noted that the military was "checking whether communications within the Air Force were intercepted."

Involvement to drag Germany to war

Tino Chrupalla, a co-chair of Germany's far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD), warned on Saturday that Germany could be drawn into the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev if it proceeds with the transfer of its Taurus missiles to Ukraine.

Chrupalla said that Bundeswehr generals have discussed the possibility of using Germany's Taurus missiles to target the Crimean Bridge. According to the AfD leader, such an act would be symbolic but could have far-reaching consequences by implicating Germany in the war.

Chrupalla took to X to express his concerns, stating, "Bundeswehr generals allegedly said that the Crimean Bridge could be attacked with Germany’s Taurus missiles. This symbolic act would drag Germany into the war. No to Taurus transfers."

German lawmakers voted last week against a motion presented by the opposition to supply Kiev with long-range Taurus missiles, two years into the ongoing war.

What is the Taurus missile?

The Taurus missile is launched from a fighter jet, and its warhead, which weighs nearly half a ton, can be used against a fortified target up to 310 miles (about 500 kilometers) away, almost equivalent to the UK-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles. This means that the Taurus missile can hit the Russian capital, Moscow, which is about 450 kilometers away from the border with Ukraine.

Ever since the beginning of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, Germany has aided Ukraine with Leopard tanks and IRIS-T air defense systems, while Britain and France provided the country with Storm Shadow and Scalp cruise missiles.

Fearing an all-out escalation, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been trying to resist all domestic and foreign pressure to aid Ukraine with the long-range Taurus although Germany has been the second biggest donor of military assistance to the ex-Soviet nation.