Germany and Russia spar over a leaked audio on missiles for Ukraine. Berlin guarantees to research

BERLIN (AP) — The German authorities on Monday vehemently rejected allegations that Russia’s leak of a dialog by high-ranking German army officers was a sign that Berlin was making ready for battle towards Russia.

On the identical time, the federal government sought to include the home fallout from the leak and promised a fast investigation into how a dialog by prime German army personnel might be intercepted and printed.

“It’s completely clear that such claims that this dialog would show, that Germany is making ready a battle towards Russia, that that is absurdly notorious Russian propaganda,” a spokesman for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz instructed reporters in Berlin.

Authorities spokesman Wolfgang Buechner mentioned the leak was a part of Russia’s “info battle” towards the West, and that the purpose was to create discord inside Germany.

The 38-minute recording options army officers discussing in German how Taurus long-range cruise missiles might be utilized by Kyiv towards invading Russian forces.

Whereas German authorities haven’t questioned the authenticity of the recording, Scholz said a week ago that delivering these weapons to Ukraine is just not an possibility — and that he doesn’t need Germany to be drawn into the battle instantly.

Russia’s international ministry, nonetheless, on Monday threatened Germany with “dire penalties” in reference to the leak. It didn’t elaborate.

“If nothing is finished, and the German individuals don’t cease this, then there will probably be dire penalties at first for Germany itself,” international ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova mentioned.

Relations between the 2 nations have repeatedly deteriorated since Russia invaded Ukraine two years in the past.

The audio leak was posted by Margarita Simonyan, chief editor of Russian state-funded tv channel RT, on social media on Friday, the identical day that Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny was laid to rest after his still-unexplained death two weeks in the past in an Arctic penal colony. The recording additionally surfaced simply weeks earlier than Russia’s presidential election.

Within the leaked audio, 4 officers, together with the top of Germany’s air drive, Ingo Gerhartz, might be heard discussing deployment eventualities for Taurus missiles in Ukraine earlier than a gathering with Protection Minister Boris Pistorius, German information company dpa reported.

The officers then state that early supply and speedy deployment of Taurus missiles would solely be attainable with the participation of German troopers. The officers mentioned coaching Ukrainian troopers to deploy the Taurus on their very own could be attainable, however it will take months.

The recording additionally exhibits the German authorities has not given its OK for the supply of the cruise missiles sought by Ukraine, dpa reported.

There was a debate in Germany about whether or not to produce the missiles to Ukraine as Kyiv faces battlefield setbacks. With army support from the USA held up in Congress. Germany is now the second-biggest provider of army support to Ukraine after the U.S., and it’s additional stepping up its support this year.

Scholz’s insistence final week on not giving Taurus missiles to Ukraine got here after Germany stalled for months on the nation’s want for the missiles, which have a variety of as much as 500 kilometers (310 miles) and will in idea be used towards targets deep inside Russian territory.

On Monday, the chancellor reiterated his stance throughout a go to to a faculty in Sindelfingen in southwestern Germany.

“I am the chancellor, and that is why it is legitimate,” he mentioned relating to his “no” to the supply of Taurus missiles, dpa reported.

Additionally on Monday, Germany’s ambassador visited Russia’s international ministry in Moscow. Whereas Russia media reported that Ambassador Alexander Graf Lambsdorff had been summoned by the ministry, the German authorities mentioned his go to was deliberate nicely earlier than the audio was printed.

Germany’s protection ministry tried to downplay the importance of the leaked dialog, saying it was merely an “change of concepts” earlier than a gathering with the protection minister.

The ministry mentioned it was investigating how a dialog by prime German army personnel might be intercepted and leaked by the Russians. It promised to report its findings. A number of German media have reported that the officers had been in a WebEx assembly once they had been taped.

Buechner, the spokesman for the chancellor, mentioned the German authorities would additionally look into the way it “can higher counter focused disinformation, particularly from Russia.”

In the USA, Nationwide Safety Council spokesman John Kirby declined to handle any specifics of the leaked audio, however he known as the discharge “a clear try by Russians to sow discord.”

The Kremlin on Monday mentioned it appeared ahead to the outcomes of the German authorities’s investigation.

“Mr. Scholz mentioned {that a} quick, full and efficient investigation could be carried out. We hope that that we will discover out the result of that investigation,” spokesperson Dmitry Peskov mentioned.

In London, a spokesman for U.Okay. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak warned that the federal government should “deal with something popping out of the Kremlin with warning,” noting the Russian authorities’s document of spreading misinformation.

“It’s of their pursuits to sow disunity amongst allies who’re in search of to help the armed forces of Ukraine,” spokesman Dave Pares mentioned. “We must always not fall into that entice.”

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Davies reported from Manchester, England. Related Press writers Jill Lawless in London and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.