‘No need to apologise’ for leaked call – German ambassador to UK
The German ambassador to the UK has stated that there is no need for an apology regarding security breaches that resulted in a leaked call between top army officials being accessed by Russian sources.
Miguel Berger, speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, suggested that one of the participants likely used an insecure line to join the call, allowing Russia to intercept the conversation.
During the leaked call, officials discussed details of purported British operations on the ground in Ukraine.
Responding to criticism from former UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, who accused Germany of being vulnerable to Russian intelligence infiltration and lacking security and reliability, Mr. Berger condemned Wallace’s remarks as “extremely unhelpful.” He emphasized that such actions only served Russia’s interests.
Mr. Berger labeled the publication of the call as a “hybrid attack” orchestrated by Russia. He also mentioned that German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius had reached out to allies to clarify Berlin’s stance on the leak.
According to Mr. Berger, initial findings from a military intelligence investigation suggest that the leak resulted from “an individual mistake by one of the officers.”
The call had been intercepted because one of the participants had connected in an insecure way, he said.
“I think that is a good lesson for everybody: never use hotel internet if you want to do a secure call,” Mr Berger advised listeners of the Today programme.
In the leaked recording, four senior German military officers are seemingly heard discussing the prospect of Ukraine using German-made Taurus cruise missiles to hit the Kerch Bridge, which links Russia to the Crimean peninsula, which was illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has repeatedly ruled out sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine.
Mr Berger said Mr Scholz was being careful about how to increase support to Ukraine, so as not to cause “consequences we all don’t want to see”.
Germany were to provide Taurus missiles to Ukraine would create “potential for escalation”, he said.
The missiles have a range of around 500km (300 miles) – enough to potentially hit Russian territory.
Ambassador Berger said allies’ focus needed to be on supplying enough ammunition to Ukraine.
Kyiv has said it is losing ground to Russian forces in part because of diminishing ammunition supplies.
