In the German Air Force wiretapping scandal, the Union is focusing on Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). Russia had previously released a recorded conversation between senior officers in which they discussed operational scenarios for the German Taurus cruise missile if it were to be delivered to Ukraine. The Union reads there that the participation of German soldiers in a delivery is not technically absolutely necessary.
What the Union criticizes
“The reports are strange in two respects,” said CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt to “Spiegel,” “on the one hand, that security-related conversations are obviously being overheard by the Russians, and on the other hand, that the Federal Chancellor may be justifying his rejection of Taurus deliveries with a Misrepresentation justified”. He demanded: “The Chancellor must explain this to the Bundestag.” And threatened: “In this situation, a committee of inquiry cannot be ruled out.”
The CDU defense politician Roderich Kiesewetter argued similarly on ZDF: “It must be clarified why the Chancellor goes public with false claims where he says that German Bundeswehr participation on site is necessary.” The CDU foreign politician Norbert Röttgen sees it the same way. In the Berlin “Tagesspiegel” he noted serious damage to Scholz personally: The question arises “why the Russian secret service and perhaps even a higher authority are doing so much damage to the Federal Chancellor by publishing the conversation right now.”
What happened
Four officers, including Air Force Chief Ingo Gerhartz, discussed operational scenarios for the German Taurus cruise missile if it were to be delivered to Ukraine in a telephone conference in preparation for a conversation with Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD). Their conversation was published on the Russian platform “Russia Today”. In it they stated that rapid delivery and rapid deployment would only be possible with the participation of German soldiers – and that Taurus training of Ukrainian soldiers for a mission under their own direction would be possible, but would take months.
What Scholz said
Scholz justified his rejection of a Taurus delivery by saying that Germany could then be drawn into the war. “We must not be linked at any point or place to the goals that this system achieves,” he said at a German Press Agency event at the beginning of last week. At a public meeting in Dresden, he later explained that the weapon could reach Moscow if used incorrectly. Others then have to worry about where exactly what ends up. “In our case that would mean that we would have to participate in order to be able to do that. I think that is impossible.”
How the wiretapping scandal could happen
How Russia obtained the recording is now being investigated by the Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD). According to dpa information, the officers spoke to each other via the Webex communication application. A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defense told “Bild am Sonntag”: “There are indications that an insufficiently secure means of communication was used in view of the content that was obviously discussed. This is, among other things, the subject of further investigations.” Citing security circles, the newspaper wrote that no protected line was used. The Webex session was sent to the soldiers’ cell phones via a Bundeswehr office landline, it said.
It will be checked what level of security the details mentioned in the meeting were subject to. It also needs to be clarified whether the Webex variant used is at least approved for the exchange of information with the lowest level of secrecy, “classified information – for official use only”.
What consequences are now being discussed
Politicians across party lines are now calling for better security precautions – not just for the Bundeswehr. The vice-chair of the Green parliamentary group, Agnieszka Brugger, who specializes in security issues, warned of further Russian sabotage actions in the coming months. “The events of the last few days show once again how (President) Vladimir Putin is trying to have a massively negative influence on our open society, especially in Germany, through disinformation, destabilization and espionage,” she told “Spiegel”. “This will increase in this year full of important elections, so we have to prepare much better for it in politics, media and society.”
Her party colleague Konstantin von Notz, who heads the parliamentary committee to control the secret services, has also called on the government to clarify the matter in the relevant Bundestag committees.
The former Bundestag military commissioner, Hans-Peter Bartels, believes that the dismissal of Air Force Inspector Gerhartz is out of the question. “The federal government will not do Putin the favor of firing individual air force generals now,” he told the “Tagesspiegel” (Sunday).
