Leaked German recording could deepen NATO rift: WSJ
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According to the Wall Street Journal, the leak should serve as a "wake-up call" for Berlin.
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz delivers his speech at the PES congress after main candidate to the next European elections Nicolas Schmit has been elected in Rome on March 2, 2024 (AP)
According to The Wall Street Journal, a leaked German recording might provoke an internal dispute between Berlin and its NATO partners
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.
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.
One WSJ source expressed that the leak should serve as a "Wake-up call" for Berlin.
Aside from the employment of Taurus missiles, German authorities purportedly acknowledged the presence of foreign military personnel in Ukraine, who were there to assist Kiev in operating weaponry supplied by Western nations. Russian officials have stated that the presence of Western service members in Ukraine is "no secret."
The WSJ called the tape "a propaganda win for the Kremlin," warning that it might strain relations between Germany and other NATO members. According to the report, this also reduces the likelihood of Taurus missiles being sent to Ukraine.
According to reports, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is still opposed to supplying Taurus missiles to Kiev, warning that doing so may intensify the crisis.
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.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed that the leak is proof Ukraine and its supporters "do not want to change their course at all, and want to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield."
Maria Zakharova, the Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, remarked that if Germany did not "promptly" provide an explanation for the talks, this would be considered "an admission of guilt."
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev wrote on Telegram that the Germans have "again turned into our sworn enemies."
