German Military Leak Added Embarrassment to Berlin's Silence on Nord Stream Sabotage

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has blamed Moscow for the leak, completely glossing over the fact that German military officers were discussing nothing short of an open attack on Russia, Sputnik's commentators say.

The leaked conversation of German officers discussing attacks against Russian civilian infrastructure by German-made Taurus missiles has prompted a heated debate in Berlin. "It's a hybrid disinformation attack — it's about division, it's about undermining our unity," German Defense Minister Pistorius rushed to claim: "We mustn't fall for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin." Earlier, Berlin stated it wouldn't send Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.

"I think in war narrative, control is obviously very important," Glenn Diesen, professor of international relations at the University of South-Eastern Norway, told Sputnik. "And on this tape it was revealed that German generals were discussing attacks on Russia or more specifically, attacking the infrastructure of the Kerch Strait Bridge [also known as the Crimean Bridge – Sputnik]. And it also revealed that the Taurus missiles will be supplied to Ukraine, in which the Americans would assist in handling them or firing them, attacking Russia with them. So this is, of course, very problematic because it demonstrates NATO's direct involvement in the war, that is direct attacks on Russia. This is not just weapons and intelligence anymore, but now also picking the targets and, indeed, even pulling the triggers."

Nord Stream Sabotage and Crimean Bridge Attack Plot

By accusing Russia of launching a "disinformation" attack Germany appears to use the same playbook it used in the aftermath of the Nord Stream sabotage attack of September 26, 2022, when Russia was groundlessly blamed for destroying its own pipeline.

According to Diesen, it's the US who is pulling the strings of the German government in both cases.

"Obviously, the United States has an interest in this," the expert said, commenting on the scandal surrounding the possible delivery of Taurus missiles to the Kiev regime. "They're not able to supply weapons of their own at the moment due to the Republican opposition. So they're obviously looking for the Europeans to take a greater role in this proxy war against Russia. By comparison, Nord Stream was, I would say, even more awkward because keep in mind that before the Nord Stream pipelines were attacked, the US on numerous occasions told what they were planning to do. They threatened it very publicly, expressing their intention to attack the Nord Stream pipeline if Russia would invade Ukraine."

❗️ It is surprising that Germany is not concerned about conversations on an attack on the Crimean Bridge, but about their leakage, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said pic.twitter.com/3vXMlyZi2Z

— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) March 4, 2024

In both cases, Washington and its allies in the German government feared that the incidents could create divisions within the West; so, the first instinct was to blame Russia, the professor pointed out. Likewise, in both cases nobody in the West seems willing to dig to the bottom of what happened: an investigation in the Nord Stream sabotage has yet to bear any fruit, while the German military chatter is being downplayed by Berlin and its allies.

"It's the same pattern of behavior," Gunnar Beck, AfD European Parliament MEP told Sputnik. "The German government is presented with clear evidence. And they deny it and they go on the attack against Russia. Who’s benefiting from this clearly [are the] fervently anti-Russian interest groups within the German government. I'd say the Greens in particular. But, broadly and in abstract terms, everyone in Germany who defines Germany's national interest in terms of the interests of the collective West. It's a majority of the German establishment."

🇩🇪The German Defense Ministry “protected” Pistorius’ comment about the leak of Bundeswehr negotiations with the password “1234,” Bild reports.

The press service provided a link to the NextCloud resource, where it posted an audio recording of the minister’s response to…

— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) March 4, 2024

"The German generals appeared to be part of that camp of the German political establishment, which saw Germany as firmly anchored in the West. That applies to all political parties except my own," the German politician continued.

"And, of course, the arms industry. Naturally, arms manufacturers in Germany are trying to profit from increased military spending on Ukraine."

📹 Journalists "attacked" the German ambassador at the entrance of the Russian Foreign Ministry while he was trying to figure out where the entrance was pic.twitter.com/gPCunrpeqe

— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) March 4, 2024

The Bundeswehr chatter clearly indicated that American and British military specialists have also been deployed in Ukraine and could be involved together with the French in the attacks on Russia's Crimean infrastructure.

According to Beck, the attack on the Crimean Bridge is a symbolic matter for NATO: "That's an important symbol of Crimea being an integral part of Russia," he presumed.

"I think there are two objectives," Diesen said, commenting on the matter. "The first would be, just in terms of the war, the Crimea can be seen as an important logistics hub. And in wars especially on this scale, we see that logistics are imperative in order to be able to bring weapons and supplies and move troops around. So being able to destroy this bridge would be an important way of limiting the logistics flexibility of the Russian army. But I think there's also now a wider, larger strategic level in which there's this historical desire, especially by the Americans and British, as the main naval powers over the past 200 years or 200-plus years, which has been to weaken Russia's access to the seas. So, again, this has been a very old strategy, for centuries, which is, yeah, to limit Russia's access to these oceans."

German Public Don't Want War With Russia

Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov drew attention to the fact that Berlin is much more concerned about the leak taking place, rather than the fact that the German military was discussing in detail a potential sabotage attack on Russia's Crimean Bridge.

"I think it's an embarrassment for [Germans], obviously, because it's been quite important for Germany," said the Norwegian professor. "They're trying to balance two positions. They want to be loyal NATO members, which supplies weapons in this proxy war against Russia. But at the same time, they're very cautious not to be seen as being a participant of the war - this obviously failed. They're now being caught red-handed, planning attacks on Russia, which makes them participants. I think this is merely an issue of controlling the narrative, which is to shift the focus on what this represents."

For his part, Beck emphasized that while the German establishment has no scruples about sending more weapons to Ukraine and planning attacks on Russia's civilian objects, the German public is not warmongering.

"So what this conversation - which is not even the German government - clearly shows is that the German military is planning an attack against Russia, which, according to every interpretation of international law, would make Germany a party in the military conflict in the Ukraine. That's not what the vast majority of Germans want," Beck emphasized.