Germany is facing fury today after an air force chief revealed secret UK operations in Ukraine via an “insecure” phone line.
Berlin has been branded “unreliable” following a call between Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz and senior Luftwaffe officers that was intercepted by Russia.
Discussions included confirmation that there are British personnel deployed in Ukraine and details of how Storm Shadow missiles are deployed in the country.
The talks also exposed a split between the German military and Chancellor Olaf Scholz over whether to supply kyiv with its own Taurus missile system.
Scholz confirmed that the recording broadcast by Moscow’s state broadcaster is genuine and described the security breach as “very serious.”
The violation could compromise arms transfers from Britain and France to Ukraine and hamper Kiev’s vital use of cruise missiles in its war against Russia.
It will also further inflame tensions between NATO allies, after Scholz previously publicly referred to the UK’s military presence in Ukraine.
Former Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said the episode showed that Germany was “neither safe nor trustworthy.”
“We know that Germany is quite penetrated by Russian intelligence, which shows that they are neither safe nor trustworthy,” he told The Times.
Russian spies intercepted a call between Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz (pictured) and senior Luftwaffe officers.
The talks included confirmation that the British Army is being deployed to Ukraine (pictured: British troops taking part in military exercises in Poland).
Russia intercepted the 38-minute call between Lt. Gerhartz and three senior officers on February 19 after they used standard video conferencing software instead of an encrypted line.
The head of Russian state broadcaster RT, Margarita Simonyan, posted the audio recording on the Telegram messaging app on Friday.
According to a Russian transcript of the call, the head of the German air force said: “If you ask us about delivery methods, I know how the British do it.” They are always transported in Ridgeback armored vehicles. They have several people on the ground.
Gerhartz also explained during the call how the French are “sending (Audi) Q7s loaded with Scalp missiles to Ukraine.”
The revelations of this second security error will help Russian intelligence to track and locate such vehicles in Europe and on the territory of Ukraine.
Gerhartz further added that Britain had equipped Ukrainian aircraft with Storm Shadows and could assist with the transfer of Taurus missiles to Ukraine.
According to the air force chief, Germany is considering sending 100 of its 600 Taurus missiles to Kviv in two batches of 50.
Gerhartz says this is to ensure that the missile “does not change the course of hostilities.”
And he added: “That’s why we don’t want to send them all.” And not all in one batch. We can first send 50 missiles and then give them another 50. This is absolutely clear, but it is a big policy.
“I have learned from my French and British colleagues that the situation with the Storm Shadow and Scalp missiles is the same.”
The missiles have a range of 500 kilometers and officers were heard discussing targets the Ukrainians could hit with them, such as Russian ammunition depots and the bridge from Kerch to Crimea.
Former British Army chief Lord Dannatt told Times Radio that those involved in the call should be “strongly censured”.
“I was very disappointed to read that story,” he said. “I think that the German air force officers who spoke openly, frankly, should be censured quite harshly.”
Former defense committee chairman Tobias Ellwood said “the interception and leaking of military planning discussions is worrying at several decibel levels.”
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today program that one aspect is “why the basic conceptual protocols were not followed” and another is “how this plays out in Germany”.
He added that “given the intensity of Russia’s spying on Germany and other countries, they probably haven’t learned anything they haven’t already guessed.” But that “doesn’t stop some serious talks taking place in the diplomatic corridors between Germany and Britain and indeed NATO, nor does it explain why this happened in the first place.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz confirmed that a recording released by the Russian state broadcaster was genuine and described the security breach as “very serious.”
Germany is considering sending 100 of its 600 Taurus missiles (pictured) in two batches of 50 to Ukraine
German politicians said Russia had leaked the conversation to pressure the chancellor not to supply Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.
Scholz has so far refused to send the missiles, which are similar to Britain’s Storm Shadow, amid political divisions in the country.
Former Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told the Times: “We know that Germany is quite penetrated by Russian intelligence, which shows that they are neither safe nor trustworthy.”
The Ministry of Defense has declined to comment.