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German defense minister says leak of top brass’ talk is part of Russia’s war of propaganda

Boris Pistorius also said that Germany must do its utmost to "prevent or complicate" potential spying attempts

BERLIN, March 3. /TASS/. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has said that the leak of the tapped German top brass’ conversation about plans to attack the Crimean Bridge into the Russian mass media is part of Russia’s war of propaganda.

He said that this is part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s information warfare seeking to "split our unity." "Hence, we must be as careful as resolute in our response," he told journalists, adding that such leaks are meant to "back the myth that Germany is plotting a war against Russia, which is absolutely absurd." He stressed that Germany is only seeking to support Ukraine.

He also said that Germany must do its utmost to "prevent or complicate" potential spying attempts. He slammed Russia’s allegation that his country was preparing for a war against Russia as "orchestrated."

The RT broadcaster’s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan said on March 1 that on the very day when German Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed that NATO was not participating and would not participate in the Ukrainian conflict, high-ranking German officers were discussing the possibility of attacking the Crimean Bridge in a way that would help avoid consequences for the German authorities. Simonyan said there was an audio recording of this conversation and later released the transcript of the leaked conversation, which indicates that the officers were discussing how much destruction Germany’s Taurus long-range missiles could cause to the Crimean Bridge as well as details of preparations for such an attack.

On Saturday, the German defense ministry confirmed that German top brass’ conversation about plans to attack the Crimean Bridge potentially using Taurus cruise missiles had been intercepted. Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was on a visit to Vatican City, to probe into the situation promptly.

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