National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said: “It is a clear attempt by the Russians to sow discord and show division and make it appear that the West is not united.”
On Friday, the head of the Russian RT channel, Margarita Simonyan, published a 38-minute audio recording that she said included conversations that took place between German officers as they discussed the February 19 bombing of the Crimean Peninsula.
The circulating recording included talk about the possibility of Ukrainian forces using German-made Taurus missiles and their potential impact, and others about directing the missiles towards targets such as a major bridge over the Kerch Strait that connects the Russian mainland to the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014, in addition to the use of missiles that… It was presented to Kiev by France and Britain.
A spokeswoman for the German Ministry of Defense confirmed on Saturday the authenticity of the recording and the eavesdropping of a secret Air Force conversation.
The content of the recording constitutes an embarrassment to Germany, which Kiev has long demanded to supply it with Taurus missiles capable of hitting targets up to 500 kilometers away.
Moscow summoned the German ambassador accredited to it on Monday, against the backdrop of the leaked recording, and Russian news agencies reported that Ambassador Alexander Graf Lambsdorff arrived at the ministry in the morning, without making any statement to journalists.
Russian commentary
The Kremlin reported on Monday that the content of the leaked conversation proves that Western countries are participating in the war in Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the talks, whose authenticity was confirmed by Berlin, “once again highlight the direct involvement of the West collectively in the conflict in Ukraine.”
He added: “The recording itself testifies to a detailed and concrete discussion within the German army about projects to launch strikes on Russian territory. Everything is very clear.”
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