German air force chief reveals secret UK operations
The head of the German air force used a telephone line that was not encrypted to discuss highly sensitive military secrets, including the use of British "people on the ground" who would be able to help Germany to deploy cruise missiles to Ukraine.
Britain and other Nato allies will be dismayed at the security breach, described by Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, as “very serious”.
Russia intercepted talks between Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz and three senior Luftwaffe officers as they used standard Webex video conference software, running on an office line, for top-secret military planning.
Included was confirmation that the British military is deployed in
Ukraine and could be used for mission planning to help to prevent German political embarrassment, as well as details on the deployment of British Storm Shadow missiles.
Gerhartz, head of the operations and exercises department, held the 38-minute conference call on February 19 to discuss the potential deployment of German Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine amid political divisions in Scholz’s coalition over the move.
He began it by stating that “no-one knows why the federal chancellor is blocking the dispatch of the missiles – this gives rise to all sorts of outlandish rumours”.
“If we’re asked about mission planning, I know how the British do this. They always use ‘reach back’ [a reference to secure communication links with the frontline]. They have several people on the ground,” Gerhartz said, according to a Russian recording of the call, confirmed as authentic by Germany’s defence ministry.
In another security breach, Gerhartz went on to explain how the French “quality control the Ukrainians when loading the Scalp” missiles on to aircraft.
The revelations will help Russian intelligence agents in combating Ukrainian target planning and missile operations carried out on Ukraine’s territory.
Gerhartz said that Britain had fitted Ukrainian aircraft with Storm Shadows and could help with the transfer of Taurus missiles to Ukraine.
Another officer, thought to be Brigadier General Frank Graefe, said the military “must be very careful from the beginning to avoid any wording that would implicate us in the conflict” beyond the preliminary training of Ukrainian soldiers in Germany. He is said to have joined the conversation on his mobile phone from a hotel room in Singapore.
“Once they have been trained, we’ll ask the Brits if they would take over at that stage. I believe this would be the right course of action. Just imagine the uproar if the media were to find out,” he said.
Germany has about 600 Taurus missiles and is considering sending 100 to Ukraine in two batches of 50 to ensure that the missile “won’t change the course of the hostilities”.
“That’s why we don’t want to send all of them. And not all of them in one batch. We may first send 50 missiles and then give them another 50. This is absolutely clear, but this is big politics,” Gerhartz said. “I have learnt from my French and British colleagues the situation with the Storm Shadow and Scalp missiles is the same.”
The officers went on to discuss targets the Ukrainians might hit with the missiles, which have a 500km range, such as Russian ammunition depots and the Kerch Bridge to Crimea.
The blunder comes after Scholz angered the British last week with his indiscreet comments on the deployment of Britain’s Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine, seemingly based on the video conference call.
At the weekend, Scholz said the interception, now being used by Russia as a propaganda coup, was “a very serious matter”. He added that “this is now being clarified very carefully, very intensively and very quickly”. – The Times