- Written by Jessica Parker and Laura Gozzi
- BBC News in Berlin and London
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said partners' trust in Germany was “unbroken”
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said the meeting of senior Luftwaffe officials was leaked by Russian intelligence sources due to a “personal error”.
He said the investigation had ruled out the possibility that Russian spies took part in the call undetected.
Pistorius said the call was leaked because the participant dialed in via an unsecured line.
This allowed Russia to intercept the conversations.
In this recording, four senior German military officials discuss the possibility that Ukraine will use German-made Taurus cruise missiles to attack the Kerch Bridge, which connects Russia with Crimea, which was illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Apparently they were heard talking about it.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has repeatedly denied sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine.
Pistorius said the call took place on a more secure version of the Webex conferencing platform, which is hosted on German military servers.
Russia's state-run RT channel posted an audio recording of the meeting last week.
He said at a press conference on Tuesday that one of the participants dialed into the meeting via an “unauthorized connection”, leading to the breach.
Pistorius acknowledged that a disciplinary investigation was underway, but suggested he did not want to see his head turned.
“Personal consequences are not on the table at this time. I am not willing to sacrifice my best officer.” [Russian President Vladimir] “It’s Putin’s game,” he said.
The unsecured line was used by police officers who dialed in from Singapore, where a military air show was being held at the end of February.
The leak caused major concerns about Germany's security among its allies, including France and Britain.
But Pistorius denied that the allies' confidence in Germany had been undermined.
“Everyone knows the dangers of such interception, and everyone knows there is no absolute security,” he said.
The Kremlin claimed the recordings were proof that Western countries were directly involved in the Ukraine conflict.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that the leaked conversations “suggest that federal forces are discussing substantial and concrete plans to attack Russian territory.”
