Medvedev Claims Germany Preparing For War With Russia
Russian state media claimed that the audio file proves Germany is planning to carry out strikes in Crimea, and “discussing how to strike the Crimea bridge" linking the Ukrainian Peninsula to Russia.
MOSCOW - Former Russian President and current deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev has claimed that Germany is "preparing for war with Russia" after Germany admitted audio of a video-conference meeting released by Russian state media had been tapped and intercepted by a third party.
The German Defense Minister responded by saying that the recording was meant to destabilize Germany and added that he hoped that Putin wouldn’t succeed in doing so.
The 38-minute-long audio file was posted by Russian state news agency RT Chief Margarita Simonyan on Friday who claimed that the tapped audio file proved that Germany is planning to carry out strikes in Crimea, and “discussing how to strike the Crimea bridge" linking the Ukrainian Peninsula to Russia.
Simonyan said of the alleged intercepted conversation, "Where I got it from, it’s no longer there. If they give me more, I’ll publish more. Wait," according to Russian state media.
The German Defense Ministry spoke to AFP about the audio file and said that while a conversation within the German Air Force had been tapped, they were "unable to say for certain" that the audio or the voices within the audio file had been altered before it was published out to the internet.
Russian state news agency RT said that the "38-minute audio dated February 19 contained a conversation between four officers of the German air force (Luftwaffe), including its commander, Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz. The military was discussing the operational and targeting details of Taurus long-range missiles that Germany was considering sending to Kyiv".