The leakage of the recording of the German official's conversation continues to ferment.
According to CCTV News, Russia summoned German Ambassador to Russia Alexander Graf Lambsdorf on March 4 local time. According to the Russian satellite network, Lambsdorf left after spending more than an hour in Russia.
But then Germany ** denied that its ambassador had been summoned. According to Euronews, Germany** said that the arrangement of the German ambassador to Russia was planned in advance.
Earlier, Simonyan, editor-in-chief of Russia Today TV, disclosed an audio recording involving German officials discussing the supply of "Taurus" cruise missiles to Ukraine and other incidents, and hinted that some Western countries were directly involved in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. According to the analysis, the recording leak incident may lead to tensions between Germany and NATO members such as Britain and France, and the most serious consequence may lead to a direct conflict between NATO and Russia.
The recordings are believed to be authentic.
The German Chancellor is under more pressure.
Germany's refusal to provide Ukraine with Taurus cruise missiles comes after a 38-minute recording of a German official conversation was leaked.
The recording, which was disclosed by Simonyan on March 1, involves four senior Bundeswehr members discussing how to deliver Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, how they can be used to attack the Crimean bridge, and how difficult it will be.
A spokesman for the German Defense Ministry later said that a conversation in the Luftwaffe was "intercepted" and that it was not possible to determine whether the circulating version had been modified. Germany** did not claim that the audio was fabricated, which is widely believed to mean that the recording was authentic. Germany's Der Spiegel reported that "according to preliminary assessments, AI-backed fraud has been largely ruled out". On the same day, the American "Wall Street**" reported that a German senior ** revealed that the recording was real. The meeting in the recording took place on a commercial, non-encrypted** conferencing platform from Cisco, Inc. in the United States.
On March 2, 2024 local time, in Rome, Italy, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz delivered a speech to **. Figure ic photo
In this regard, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was visiting the Vatican on March 2, local time, responded that this was a "very serious incident" and that Germany would "conduct a very careful, in-depth and rapid investigation".
Since last year, Ukraine has been calling on Germany to provide "Taurus" cruise missiles, believing that it will greatly increase the combat effectiveness of the Ukrainian army. According to Xinhua News Agency, this type of air-launched cruise missile has a range of 500 kilometers, can fly at low altitudes, and has stealth performance. France and Britain have already supplied Ukraine with Scarp-EG and Storm Shadow cruise missiles, respectively, which are similar in performance to Taurus, but have a range of only 250 kilometers.
Germany** led by Scholz has repeatedly and publicly refused to aid Ukraine with "Taurus" missiles, fearing that it may lead to a direct conflict between Germany and Russia. This has provoked opposition within Germany's ruling coalition, and the main opposition parties have also put pressure on him. Annalena Baerbock, the chief of the ruling coalition in Germany, once again expressed her support in principle for the supply of Taurus missiles to Ukraine.
Now recording**, Scholz is under more pressure. The German news agency 3** said that the wiretapping scandal of a senior German military officer had "called into question Scholz's credibility". Hahn, spokesman for the defense policy of the Bundestag of the German coalition party, accused Scholz of clearly making a "false statement" when he refused to provide Ukraine with "Taurus" cruise missiles, and asked him to give an explanation.
After this incident, on March 4, local time, Scholz reiterated that Germany should retain control over the use of the "Taurus" cruise missile, so it will not be provided to Ukraine. He explained that it is impossible to deliver a ** system with such a long range without thinking about controlling it. And in order to exercise control, German soldiers had to be involved. CCTV News quoted analysts as saying that Scholz was worried that Germany would be seen as a party to the conflict.
The leaked recordings caused an uproar.
It may affect mutual trust within NATO.
The recording of a confidential conversation between a senior German military officer was recorded, which also caused an uproar in Europe and NATO.
According to the Moscow Times, the recordings show that Western servicemen are modifying Ukrainian fighter jets in Ukraine to allow them to carry such cruise missiles, including "Taurus". This could lead to discord between Germany and Britain and France.
A British source told The Telegraph that Germany's leakage of British secrets was a "very serious matter." The Times quoted former British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace as saying that the incident showed that Germany was "neither safe nor reliable."
As early as February 26 this year, Scholz hinted when explaining why he refused to provide Ukraine with "Taurus" cruise missiles that Britain and France are directly involved in the deployment and control of long-range missiles in Ukraine, "This is something that Germany cannot do." According to Xinhua News Agency, his remarks were regarded as "betraying teammates" and attracted criticism from Britain and France. The British Ministry of Defense responded: "The use of the [aided] Storm Shadow missile and its target targeting procedures is a matter for the Armed Forces of Ukraine." ”
In addition, according to Reuters, the United States and Britain have always denied direct involvement in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and in the recording of the United States, there is also a German official mentioning that the United States and Britain have "long been directly involved in the Russia-Ukraine conflict", which may lead to tensions between Germany and NATO.
Expert: The incident could lead to a direct conflict between NATO and Russia.
TASS said that this series of incidents reflects the growing differences between the West on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and it cannot be ruled out that this recording document was deliberately leaked by Britain and France to force Germany to take a tougher stance against Russia.
On March 4, 2024 local time, near Kremina in the Luhansk region, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine continued. Figure ic photo
Russian press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on the leakage of the recording of the German official conversation that the incident has aroused relevant questions from the Russian side and once again strongly highlighted the direct involvement of the Western collective in the conflict in Ukraine.
German historian Tariq wrote in Russia Today** that open discord within Europe and NATO is an important signal. Now that the West is so unreliable, that their claim that they will abide by the "red lines" they have set for themselves in Ukraine is simply not credible, which could lead to a direct conflict between NATO and Russia and make nuclear (war) escalation a real possibility.
On February 26, local time, France's Macron said at an international conference that the possibility of sending ground troops in the future was "not ruled out", and then the United States, Britain, Germany, Poland and other countries denied their intention to send troops. Three days later, in response to Macron's remarks, Putin warned in his State of the Union address to the Russian Federation that Western countries would risk triggering a nuclear war if they sent troops to fight in Ukraine.
Reporter |Zhu Yuehong
Edit |Zhang.