Transcript released of purported German discussion on attacking Crimean Bridge — RT World News

RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan has published the full text of what is claimed to be a discussion between senior German military officers about how to attack the Crimean Bridge in Russia. It was reported that Russian security officials leaked the recording hours ago and pledged to release the original audio soon.

Simonyan identified the officers as General Ingo Gerhartz, commander of the German Air Force, and the senior commanders responsible for planning the mission. The alleged conversation took place on February 19, according to the source of the leak.

The text reveals that officials discussed the efficiency of the Franco-British cruise missile called Storm Shadow by the UK and SCALP by France. The two countries donated some of their stock to Ukraine.

Kiev called on Germany to provide it with some Taurus missiles. In the leaked recording, officers discuss whether the weapon system is suitable to hit Russia's Crimean Bridge, which connects eastern Crimea to the Krasnodar region across the Kerch Strait.

According to the transcript, the officers discussed how a successful attack on a key piece of Russian infrastructure would require additional satellite data, the possible deployment of missiles from French Dassault Rafale fighter jets, and at least a month of preparation.

One participant noted that given the size of the bridge, which is the longest in Europe, even 20 missiles may not be enough to cause significant damage. He noted that it resembles an amphitheater in this regard.

“They want to destroy the bridge… because it has not only military strategic importance, but also political importance,Gerhartz was quoted as saying, apparently referring to officials in Kiev. “It would be worrying if we had a direct relationship with the Ukrainian armed forces.”

The officers went on to discuss how closely the German army should work in the proposed operation so as not to cross the “red line” of participating directly. Secretly training Ukrainians in the use of German weapons and helping them plan the operation was acceptable. The text also reveals concerns about the press's knowledge of such cooperation.

Senior officials in Berlin have repeatedly made public statements explaining their reservations about sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine. Chancellor Olaf Schulz He said This week the German army can not do for Ukraine what “This was done by the British and French in terms of target control and assisting in target control.” This statement was rebuked by London and Paris, allegedly to distract public opinion from Germany's unwillingness to donate weapons to Kiev.

According to the released transcript, much of the conversation was about practical aspects of preparing Kiev's forces for the deployment of Taurus missiles, from training its military personnel, to adapting the mounting points of Ukrainian military aircraft to Berlin weapons, to providing remote technical support via a secure system. connection. The officers expressed concern that speeding up the proposed handover process could lead to the death of civilians “once again” In a weapons accident.

When evaluating the intelligence needed to target the missiles, Gerhartz allegedly considered providing such information a lot to “People wearing civilian clothes and speaking American accents.” In Kiev would cover the Germans.