German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged on Saturday to provide swift clarification after Russia released a recording of conversations between German air force officers over the possible use of the Taurus cruise missile in the war in Ukraine, as politicians demanded an urgent investigation.
The report “is a very serious matter and that is why it is now being clarified very carefully, intensively and very quickly – that is also necessary,” Scholz declared on the sidelines of the meeting in Rome.
In the leaked audio recording, senior air force officers can be heard discussing the theoretical possibility of Ukraine using German Taurus cruise missiles. According to the German Press Agency (DPA), the officers had a long (more than half an hour) conversation via the Webex platform.
The German Defence Ministry is now checking whether the communications were intercepted inside the air force. A ministry spokesman reported on Friday evening:
The Federal Office for the Military Counterintelligence Service (BAMAD) has initiated all necessary measures. We cannot say anything about the content of the communication that was apparently intercepted.
Reacting to the audio leak scandal, German politicians demanded consequences. The chairwoman of the parliamentary defence committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, said:
“We urgently need to increase our security and counter-espionage because we are obviously vulnerable in this area.”
The deputy parliamentary group leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, Johann Wadephul, called on the government to tighten regulations to protect communications, while Green lawmaker Konstantin von Notz, voiced security concerns:
The question arises as to whether this is a one-off event or a structural security problem.
