Germany, Russia spar over a leaked audio on missiles for Ukraine

BERLIN (AP) — The German government on Monday vehemently rejected allegations that Russia’s leak of a conversation by high-ranking German military officers was an indication that Berlin was preparing for war against Russia.

At the same time, the government sought to contain the domestic fallout from the leak and promised a quick investigation into how it was possible that a conversation by top German military personnel could be intercepted and published.

“It is absolutely clear that such claims that this conversation would prove, that Germany is preparing a war against Russia, that this is absurdly infamous Russian propaganda,” a spokesman for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters in Berlin.

Government spokesman Wolfgang Buechner said the leak was part of Russia’s “information war” against the West, and that the aim was to create discord within Germany.

The 38-minute recording features military officers discussing in German how Taurus long-range cruise missiles could be used by Kyiv against invading Russian forces. While German authorities haven’t questioned the authenticity of the recording, Scholz said a week ago that delivering these weapons to Ukraine isn’t an option — and that he doesn’t want Germany to be drawn into the war directly.

Russia’s foreign ministry, however, on Monday threatened Germany with “dire consequences” in connection with the leak, though it didn’t elaborate.

“If nothing is done, and the German people do not stop this, then there will be dire consequences first and foremost for Germany itself,” foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.

Relations between the two countries have continuously deteriorated since Russia invaded Ukraine two years ago.

The audio leak was posted Friday by Margarita Simonyan, chief editor of Russian state-funded television channel RT, on social media on Friday, the same day that late opposition politician Alexei Navalny was laid to rest after his still-unexplained death two weeks ago in an Arctic penal colony. It also surfaced just weeks before Russia’s presidential election.

In the leaked audio, four officers, including the head of Germany’s Air Force, Ingo Gerhartz, can be heard discussing deployment scenarios for Taurus missiles in Ukraine before a meeting with Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, German news agency dpa reported.

The officers then states that early delivery and rapid deployment of Taurus long-range cruise missiles would only be possible with the participation of German soldiers — and that training Ukrainian soldiers to deploy the Taurus on their own would be possible, but would take months.

The recording also shows the German government hasn’t given its OK for the delivery of the cruise missiles sought by Ukraine, dpa reported.

There has been a debate in Germany on whether to supply the missiles to Ukraine as Kyiv faces battlefield setbacks, and while military aid from the United States is held up in Congress. Germany is now the second-biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine after the U.S., and is further stepping up its support this year.

Scholz’s insistence last week on not giving Taurus missiles to Ukraine came after Germany stalled for months on the country’s desire for Taurus missiles, which have a range of up to 500 kilometers (310 miles) and could in theory be used against targets far inside Russian territory.

On Monday, the chancellor reiterated his stance during a visit at a school in Sindelfingen in southwestern Germany.

“I’m the chancellor and that’s why it’s valid,” he said regarding his “no” to the delivery of Taurus missiles, dpa reported.

Also on Monday, Germany’s ambassador visited Russia’s foreign ministry in Moscow. While Russia media reported that Ambassador Alexander Graf Lambsdorff had been summoned by the foreign ministry, the German government said his visit had been planned well before the audio was published.

Germany’s defense ministry tried to downplay the significance of the officers’ conversation in the leak — saying it was merely an “exchange of ideas” before a meeting with the defense minister.

The ministry said it was investigating how it was possible that a conversation by top German military personnel could be intercepted and leaked by the Russians. It promised to report of its findings. Several German media have reported that the officers were in a WebEx meeting when they were taped.

Buechner, the spokesman of the chancellor, said that the German government would also look into how “we can better counter targeted disinformation, especially from Russia.”

The Kremlin on Monday said that it looked forward to the results of the German government’s investigation.

“Mr. Scholz said that a fast, complete and effective investigation would be carried out. We hope that that we will be able to find out the outcome of that investigation,” spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

Katie Marie Davies reported from Manchester, United Kingdom.

柏林（美联社）——德国政府周一强烈否认俄罗斯泄露德国高级军官谈话内容表明柏林正在准备对俄罗斯开战。

与此同时，政府试图控制泄密事件在国内造成的影响，并承诺迅速调查德国高级军事人员的谈话是如何被截获和公布的。

德国总理奥拉夫·朔尔茨的发言人在柏林告诉记者：“毫无疑问，这种说法——即德国正在准备对俄罗斯开战——是荒谬可笑的俄罗斯宣传。”

政府发言人沃尔夫冈·比赫纳表示，此次泄密事件是俄罗斯对西方发动的“信息战”的一部分，其目的是在德国内部制造不和。

这段38分钟的录音中，几名军官用德语讨论了基辅如何使用“金牛座”远程巡航导弹对抗入侵的俄罗斯军队。虽然德国当局尚未质疑录音的真实性，但肖尔茨一周前曾表示，向乌克兰提供这些武器并非可行之策，而且他也不希望德国直接卷入战争。

然而，俄罗斯外交部周一威胁德国，如果泄密事件属实，将面临“严重后果”，但并未详细说明。

“如果什么都不做，德国人民不阻止这种情况，那么首先对德国自身将造成严重后果，”外交部发言人玛丽亚·扎哈罗娃说。

自两年前俄罗斯入侵乌克兰以来，两国关系持续恶化。

这段音频泄露事件发生在周五，由俄罗斯国家电视台RT的总编辑玛格丽塔·西蒙尼扬发布在社交媒体上。就在同一天，已故反对派政治家阿列克谢·纳瓦尔尼下葬，他两周前在北极的一个流放地离奇死亡。这段音频的曝光也恰逢俄罗斯总统大选前几周。

据德国新闻社 dpa 报道，泄露的录音显示，包括德国空军司令英戈·格哈茨在内的四名军官在与国防部长鲍里斯·皮斯托里乌斯会面之前，正在讨论在乌克兰部署金牛座导弹的方案。

这些军官随后表示，只有德国士兵参与，才能尽早交付和快速部署金牛座远程巡航导弹——训练乌克兰士兵自行部署金牛座导弹是可能的，但这需要数月时间。

据德新社报道，录音还显示，德国政府尚未批准向乌克兰交付其寻求的巡航导弹。

在基辅战场遭遇挫败，而美国对乌克兰的军事援助又因国会搁置而迟迟未能落实之际，德国国内就是否向乌克兰提供导弹展开了辩论。德国目前是仅次于美国的乌克兰第二大军事援助提供国，并且今年还将进一步加大对乌克兰的援助力度。

上周，舒尔茨坚持不向乌克兰提供金牛座导弹。此前几个月，德国一直拖延向乌克兰提供金牛座导弹，该导弹射程可达 500 公里（310 英里），理论上可用于打击俄罗斯境内深处的目标。

周一，总理在访问德国西南部辛德尔芬根的一所学校时重申了他的立场。

据德新社报道，他谈到自己拒绝交付金牛座导弹时说：“我是总理，所以我的决定是合理的。”

同样在周一，德国大使访问了位于莫斯科的俄罗斯外交部。尽管俄罗斯媒体报道称，德国大使亚历山大·格拉夫·兰姆斯多夫是被俄罗斯外交部召见的，但德国政府表示，他的访问早在录音曝光之前就已经安排好了。

德国国防部试图淡化泄密事件中军官谈话的重要性，称这仅仅是与国防部长会面之前的一次“思想交流”。

德国国防部表示，正在调查俄罗斯方面是如何截获并泄露德国高级军官谈话内容的，并承诺将公布调查结果。多家德国媒体报道称，这些军官当时正在参加WebEx会议，谈话内容被录音。

总理发言人比赫纳表示，德国政府还将研究“如何更好地打击有针对性的虚假信息，特别是来自俄罗斯的虚假信息”。

克里姆林宫周一表示，期待德国政府的调查结果。

发言人德米特里·佩斯科夫表示：“舒尔茨先生说，将会展开迅速、全面、有效的调查。我们希望能够得知调查结果。”

凯蒂·玛丽·戴维斯从英国曼彻斯特报道。