Russia intercepted a phone call that Germany was holding involving their involvement in the Russia- Ukraine war. German Air Force officials were discussing plans to supply Ukraine with missiles and to send their men over to teach them how to operate the weapons. The officials also discussed plans to use the missiles to take out strategic points like a bridge that connects Russia to Crimea, a part of Ukraine that was annexed or taken over by Russia in 2016. They were talking about whether or not to send Taurus missiles over which are a new type of weapon system that is very complex. Because of their complexity, there was a thought about whether they should send engineers over to help the Ukrainian soldiers. Germany and other European countries have tried their best to avoid sending their personnel to Ukraine, so Russia hearing plans discussing it could lead to them trusting these countries even less. They have not been trusting of Western countries like Germany so hearing of possible direct involvement in the war could make them think even less of the West. The leak is embarrassing for Germany making some of their allies like the UK, question how they let such valuable intel get leaked.
What makes the situation worse is that the Air Force officials were not talking on a secure military line, but rather on Webex which is a video conference website like Zoom. This made it much easier for Russia to intercept the call making it a horrible decision by the officials. Russia has taken the leaked intel very seriously with some of their officials saying that it suggests the German military will attack Ukraine and Russia will “not forget” the leaked conversation. With tensions high right now between Russia and Western countries, pretty much anything can lead to conflicts between countries, so hopefully, no other diplomatic issues will happen.
