The text of the conversation between the German officers, and then the audio recording, was published on March 1 by the editor-in-chief of the RT television channel, Margarita Simonyan. Participants in the conversation, in which the Germans discuss plans to destroy the Crimean Bridge using Taurus missiles and the French Dassault Rafale fighter, were the head of the operations and exercises department of the Bundeswehr Air Force Command Frank Graefe, the Bundeswehr Air Force inspector Ingo Gerhartz and employees of the air operations center of the Bundeswehr Space Command Fenske and Frostedte .
The authenticity of the recording was confirmed by major German media the next day. According to Bild, the conversation between Bundeswehr representatives could have been intercepted in Singapore, where one of the participants in the conversation was located.
German government spokesman Wolfgang Büchner said that the intercepted conversation between Bundeswehr officers about the possibility of an attack on the Crimean Bridge is allegedly not evidence of Germany’s preparation for war with Russia. In turn, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius emphasized that he is not going to speculate about possible resignations.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that politicians in Germany are concerned about the leak of negotiations between Bundeswehr officers discussing the attack on the Crimean Bridge, and not about their content. According to official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, published negotiations between Bundeswehr officers indicate that Germany has not yet been completely denazified.
Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov emphasized that the content of the conversation indicates the direct involvement of the collective West in the conflict in Ukraine.
