Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marija Zaharova accused Germany of plotting terror attacks against Russia in the wake of the Taurus missile scandal leaks, which revealed top German military brass discussing plans to blow up the Kerch Bridge in Crimea last week.
“Let the German people now think about what a terrible tragedy they are being led into by those who pretend to be German politicians, but in fact are the conductors, say, primarily of the American, Anglo-Saxon ideology, of the complete destruction of Europe,” said Zaharova during an appearance on state media.
In a Telegram post, she later stated: “The West must answer for what it has done and take responsibility. After all, we are talking about terrorist acts against civilians, among other things.”
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The leaked phone calls, which have been major international news for the last week, have caused a firestorm of criticism in Germany. Not only are critics asking why Germany is plotting an attack on the Kerch Bridge, but there are also accusations of incompetence for allowing Russian hackers to gain easy access to the contents of the phone calls, with information coming to light that the conversation was conducted over an unsecured line.
The Russians are also stating it was their nation that allowed German reunification in the first place in 1990 after the country was split in two following the Second World War. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, stated:
“I remind you that 80 years ago we suffered from the German fascist troops, our country suffered the greatest losses, precisely from the ideology that grew out of Germany itself and comes from there. It was our country that gave the green light to the unification of Germany, despite the fact that we had lived through this most terrible historical experience… The question is raised, on what basis and who allowed Germany to behave in this way towards our country and our people?”
He warned that cooperation with Germany has now come to an end.
“The Western press, referring to certain official sources, has already written several times that there are no doubts about the authenticity of the recording. First of all, of course, it would be good if Germany itself would officially declare that the recording is authentic, not under the guise of the media, but officially declare that the recording is authentic,” wrote Zaharova in a Telegram post.
Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has also criticized the leaks, with defense policy spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group, Rüdiger Lucassen, stating: “The negligence and lack of leadership of the traffic light government is moving Germany towards a war party.” He also said the military leadership is “neither able to protect conversations at the highest level of the Bundeswehr, nor has the authority apparently to protect soldiers at the leadership level We need to provide sufficient training and awareness of how to handle sensitive information.”
On Friday, the head of the Russian state broadcaster RT, Margarita Simonjan, released the 38-minute recording. In it, the head of the Air Force, Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz, talked to Brigadier General Frank Graefe and two lieutenant colonels about the possible delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. They also discussed a hypothetical Taurus deployment against the Crimean Bridge during the phone call.
