Germany's Scholz vows to speed up probe over leak of Ukraine war talks

By Oliver Towfigh Nia

BERLIN (AA) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday pledged swift clarification in the wake of the Russian release of a recording of discussions between German Air Force officers on the Ukraine war.

The report “is a very serious matter and that is why it is now being clarified very carefully, intensively and very quickly - that is also necessary,” Scholz told German media representatives on the sidelines of his visit to the Italian capital, Rome.

The head of the Russian state broadcaster RT, Margarita Simonjan, published an audio recording of the approximately 30-minute conversation on Friday.

In the audio, senior Air Force officers can be heard discussing the theoretical possibilities of using German Taurus cruise missiles by Ukraine. According to German Press Agency (DPA) information, the conversation is authentic. The officers were reportedly linked via the Webex platform.

The German Ministry of Defense is now checking whether communications within the Air Force were intercepted.

“The Federal Office for the Military Counterintelligence Service (BAMAD) has initiated all necessary measures,” said a spokeswoman for the ministry on Friday evening.

“We cannot say anything about the content of the communication that was apparently intercepted,” she added.

Reacting to the audio leak scandal, German politicians demanded consequences.

“We urgently need to increase our security and counter-espionage because we are obviously vulnerable in this area,” the chairwoman of the parliamentary defense committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann told the editorial RND network.

The deputy parliamentary group leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, Johann Wadephul called on the government to tighten the regulations for the protection of communications.

Green lawmaker Konstantin von Notz told the RND media network, “The question arises as to whether this is a one-off event or a structural security problem.”