Scandal grows in Bundestag over leaked details from meeting on Taurus missiles for Ukraine

The President of the Bundestag has criticised the head of the Defence Committee over the leak of some details of the meeting on Taurus missiles for Ukraine; she stated in reply that she considered the criticism undeserved.

Source: Spiegel, reported by European Pravda

Details: The head of the Bundestag Defence Committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, disagreed with the criticism of the Bundestag President after her first letter, where Strack-Zimmermann reported on the number of participants in the Taurus missile meeting and proposed to authorise a criminal investigation into the data leak. 

Spiegel has obtained a second letter from Strack-Zimmermann, which shows that in her response to the first letter, the Bundestag president expressed surprise at the large number of participants in the meeting, where classified details could have been shared, calling it "improper."

Strack-Zimmermann said she saw the letter as "a clear criticism of my performance of my duties as chairman of the committee in terms of confidentiality" and stated that it was not her responsibility to determine the participants of the meeting, as not only MPs and ministry representatives were present, but also highly specialised experts who could explain technical details to others.

Background:

• The T-Online portal published details of the discussion. In particular, this concerns the report of the Bundeswehr's General Inspector Carsten Breuer on the Taurus missile’s target acquisition capabilities, which revealed the true reason for Chancellor Olaf Scholz's opposition to transferring these missiles to Ukraine.
• In her first letter to journalists, Strack-Zimmermann initiated an investigation into the leak. She also spoke publicly about such intentions.
• At the weekend, Chancellor Olaf Scholz also commented on the leak, noting that "giving away secrets is something that should not happen" and in this case, it would be right to investigate how the information became public. 
• Earlier, Scholz publicly gave different reasons for why Germany refused to supply Ukraine with Taurus missiles – from avoiding the possible escalation of and limiting Germany’s involvement in the war with Russia to being concerned that the missiles would be used to strike Moscow.

Support UP or become our patron!