Germany accuses Russia of information war over military call leak
LONDON — The call came from inside the Western alliance.
Deepening fears that the Kremlin may be succeeding in its effort to sow discord between the United States and its allies, Russia has published the audio of a private discussion between high-ranking German military officers. The leak has caused uproar in Berlin, possible harm to its support for Ukraine and accusations that this is all part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s yearslong “information war” against the West.
Germany on Monday dismissed the Kremlin’s claims that the recording — which included discussions of how Ukraine might use German weapons against Russian forces and potential strikes by Kyiv on a key bridge in occupied Crimea — betrayed plans to go to war directly with Russia.
Berlin has not denied the authenticity of the leaked call, instead promising a quick investigation into how such a high-level conversation was apparently intercepted by Moscow.
It’s the latest sign that Putin is exploiting divisions within NATO as the transatlantic alliance grapples with the prospect of a second Trump presidency and waning support for Ukraine.
“Another word for information war is propaganda,” said Frank Ledwidge, a former British military intelligence officer and senior lecturer in war studies at England’s University of Portsmouth. “This was a major foul-up, and the Russians are taking advantage of it.”
‘Undermining our unity’
The 38-minute audio recording was leaked Friday by a leading Russian propagandist, just as the eyes of the West were on the funeral of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Moscow.
Margarita Simonyan, head of Russia’s state-run RT network, published the audio of the call, which she said features officers including the head of Germany’s air force talking about the use of Taurus long-range cruise missiles, and potential strikes against the Kerch Bridge, Putin’s pet project connecting the annexed Crimean Peninsula to Russia.
The use of the German-made missiles could require the presence of German troops on the ground to help deploy them, the officers reportedly said, a red line that Berlin has been wary of crossing.
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