The recent interception of a teleconference between two German officers did not undermine its reliability as an ally, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius declared on Tuesday.
This was an individual human error. We do have rules for such conversations.
The call was made via an unsecured line through the hotel’s internet connection, Pistorius told a joint press conference with his Swedish counterpart Pal Jonson at Karlberg Palace in southeastern Sweden. The defence ministry chief acknowledged that their communication and data protection systems should be reinforced further.
“For us in this day and age where we have hybrid warfare, digital warfare, we need to make sure we can further improve and strengthen and harden our systems because this can always happen.”
The statements by Pistorius came in response to a question about whether Germany was a safe ally for Sweden following the leaked audio recording, as the Scandinavian country was about to join NATO soon.
Normally, I would say it is quite an unpolite question having a guest in the room to ask whether he is reliable, but of course I understand what do you mean. Of course, we are reliable partner.
Jonson claimed that Sweden was not aware of the incident jeopardising state interests in any way. He also stated that Stockholm would work to improve security.
“It is very important, of course, to strengthen our resilience in the in this aspect.”
The two sides also signed a declaration of intent aimed at enhancing bilateral defence ties on Tuesday.
