MOSCOW – The Kremlin said on March 4 a purported recording of German military discussions showed Germany’s armed forces were discussing plans to launch strikes on Russian territory, and questioned whether Chancellor Olaf Scholz was in control of the situation.

Russian media on March 1 published a 38-minute recording of a call in which German officers were heard discussing weapons for Ukraine and a potential strike by Kyiv on a bridge in Crimea, prompting Russian officials to demand an explanation.

“The recording itself says that within the Bundeswehr (German armed forces), plans to launch strikes on Russian territory are being discussed substantively and concretely. This does not require any legal interpretation. Everything here is more than obvious,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “Here we have to find out whether the Bundeswehr is doing this on its own initiative. Then the question is: How controllable is the Bundeswehr and how much does Scholz control the situation? Or is it part of German government policy?”

He said both scenarios were “very bad. Both once again emphasise the direct involvement of the countries of the collective West in the conflict around Ukraine”.

Germany has called it an apparent act of eavesdropping by Russia.

“The incident is much more than just the interception and publication of a conversation... It is part of an information war that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is waging,” Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on March 3. 

“It is a hybrid disinformation attack. It is about division. It is about undermining our unity.”

Germany is among the Nato countries that have supplied weaponry to Ukraine, including tanks.

Russia accuses what it calls the “collective West” of using Ukraine to wage a proxy war against it, while Nato says it is helping Kyiv to defend itself against a war of aggression.

Russia on March 4 summoned Germany’s ambassador to demand an explanation for the military discussions in the recording. The envoy, Mr Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, left the foreign ministry without speaking to reporters after attending the meeting. Germany’s foreign ministry denied he had been summoned, instead saying he attended “a long-planned meeting in the Russian foreign ministry”.

It is the second time in the past week that Moscow has pounced on what it sees as evidence of Western intent to attack Russia directly.

After French President Emmanuel Macron floated the possibility that European nations could send troops to Ukraine, allies of Mr Putin said last week that any French troops would meet death and defeat like Napoleon’s soldiers who invaded Russia in 1812.

Mr Putin said in a speech on Feb 29 that Western countries risked provoking a nuclear war if they sent troops to fight in Ukraine. REUTERS