The German government has dismissed claims that it is preparing for a military confrontation with Russia as “absurd.” Last week, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev raised the possibility after a leaked phone call between senior German officers discussing a potential attack on the Crimean Bridge was published.
Any claims stating that the recording proves Germany is getting ready for a war with Russia are nothing but “absurd, infamous Russian propaganda,” the government’s deputy spokesman, Wolfgang Buechner, told journalists at a press conference in Berlin on Monday. He also maintained that these conclusions could “in no way” be drawn from the officers’ conversation.
The 38-minute exchange reportedly took place on February 19 between four officers of the German Air Force, including its commander, Lt. Gen. Ingo Gerhartz. They talked about operational and targeting details of Taurus long-range missiles, which Berlin was considering supplying to Kiev. The officers particularly explored the option of the missiles being used against the Crimean Bridge and how to maintain plausible deniability in the event of an attack.
On Monday, Buechner branded the leak itself an attempt by Moscow to split the Germans and put a wedge between Berlin and other European nations. “This is definitely an attempt… to divide society in Germany but also in Europe,” he said, adding that “no one should play [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s game.” The deputy government spokesman also warned that “one has to think very carefully about what they say in this context.”
RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan broke the story last Friday, saying she had received the recording from Russian security officials. The German Defense Ministry has confirmed the authenticity of the audio.
On Sunday, Medvedev suggested that Berlin would claim that it knew nothing of the call or try to present the conversation as purely hypothetical. He also stated that any attempts to downplay the plans discussed in the recording as a simple military game would be “a malicious lie.”
On Monday, Moscow summoned the German ambassador to Russia, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, to lodge a protest. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on the same day that the audio showed Germany was pursuing a hostile policy toward Russia and that the West was directly involved in the Ukraine conflict.