MOSCOW, March 5 Great Britain calls on Germany to transfer long-range missiles to Kiev Taurus, despite the leak of a conversation between Bundeswehr officers, the Guardian newspaper writes, citing a representative of the British authorities.
“Britain was the first to transfer long-range precision missiles to Ukraine, and we call on our allies to do the same,” the publication quotes a British government spokesman as saying.
According to the publication's sources in the British Ministry of Defense, the leak was considered annoying, but not serious. The newspaper also points out that the country's authorities acknowledged the presence of a «small number» of British personnel in Ukraine last week, but did not say what they were doing there.
On Monday, Bloomberg reported that a representative of the British Prime Minister called the leak of a conversation between Bundeswehr officers a serious problem and indicated that it was Germany's business to investigate the incident.
Last week, Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the Rossiya Segodnya media group and RT television channel, said that she had obtained an audio recording in which senior German Bundeswehr officers discussed “how they will bomb the Crimean Bridge.” Later that same day, Simonyan published the text of the conversation, and then the recording itself, judging by them, the conversation was attended by four high-ranking representatives of the Bundeswehr, including the head of the Air Force operations and exercises department, they discussed the possible sending of Taurus missiles to Ukraine and the Ukrainian attack on Crimean Bridge. Among other things, the military is recorded discussing how to supply Taurus missiles and train the Ukrainian military to launch missiles across the Crimean Bridge in such a way as not to cross the “red line” and not become obvious participants in the conflict in Ukraine.
Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said, that the content of the conversation between German officers emphasizes the direct involvement of the West in the conflict around Ukraine. And the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, said that the West must bear responsibility for the destructive actions that it planned and largely implemented.
German media recognized the authenticity of the recording. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, in turn, said that most of the information from the German military conversation published by the Russian media was already available to the public, but some of the information was still not intended for the general public. Thus, he also indirectly acknowledged the authenticity of this recording. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that a thorough, intensive and rapid investigation is being carried out in connection with the publication of the recording.