Gleeful Russia relishes German Taurus leak scandal – POLITICO
Putin himself has not commented on the audio leak yet, but his spokesperson Dmitry Peskov warned Monday that, “The [military conversation] itself suggests that in the bowels of the Bundeswehr, plans for strikes on Russian territory are being discussed in a substantive and concrete manner.” Russia’s state-owned news agency TASS reported that Monday’s meeting between Berlin’s ambassador and the Kremlin’s foreign ministry was primarily devoted to the leak. Germany denied that the ambassador had been summoned, and said it was an “invitation to talk about various bilateral topics.” The Russian foreign ministry said it would not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment about the substance of the meeting. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been reluctant to send Ukraine long-range missiles, fearing that Germany risks being dragged squarely into the Kremlin’s war should Kyiv use Taurus to hit targets on Russian soil. (European allies Britain and France have both provided the Ukrainian military with similar long-range missiles.) One expert on German-Russia relations said the audio leak is being primarily used by Moscow for propaganda purposes …