Taurus wiretapping scandal: what makes it so explosive?

The best thing Germany can do now is to go ahead with Taurus deliveries, The Daily Telegraph advises:

“This appalling breach has no doubt delighted Vladimir Putin. The Russians probably knew a great deal already from their spy network, but to have it blurted out in this way is a gift to their propagandists. The foreign ministry said it showed a 'lack of democracy' in Germany, which is hypocrisy on a breathtaking scale. More important is what was behind the discussion - pressure from Ukraine for more equipment from the West before Russia launches an expected spring offensive. Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, can make up for this debacle by giving Ukraine the Taurus long-range missiles it urgently needs.”

The Guardian is against Taurus deliveries:

“Ukraine has come to seem ever more like a Nato mercenary for Western generals wanting to boost their budgets and relive the cold-war games of their youth. The price is paid by their taxpayers and Ukraine's young men. Western Europe has no conceivable interest in escalating the Ukraine war through a long-range missile exchange. While it should sustain its logistical support for Ukrainian forces, it has no strategic interest in Kyiv's desire to drive Russia out of the majority Russian-speaking areas of Crimea or Donbass. It has every interest in assiduously seeking an early settlement and starting the rebuilding of Ukraine.”

For the Frankfurter Rundschau the leak shows just how nervous Putin is:

“The Russian leadership clearly felt the urgent need to make the wiretapping public now. Two weeks before the pro-forma presidential election, not everything is going according to plan for the Kremlin. The crowds mourning at the funeral of opposition politician Alexei Navalny and at his grave in the days that followed put the lie to President Vladimir Putin's narrative that the whole nation supports him and his war of aggression. From the Kremlin's point of view, a distraction was needed. The officers have provided just that.”

Writing on Facebook, journalist Anatoly Nesmiyan sees no need for such a fuss:

“The Germans dealt in detail with a very specific question, namely: 'Let's assume (a very important qualifier) that we deliver Taurus to Ukraine. That won't happen any time soon, it will take seven or eight months, but let's assume we do. What can they achieve in this particular conflict? ... There are only two targets for them - Sevastopol with its naval base and the Crimean Bridge.' ... So the officers continued the discussion with German pedantry: if that's the case, how many of these missiles will be needed? In other words, it was not clear from the conversation that it was a deployment plan. The officers were simply hashing out what they should tell the country's leadership if asked.”

Ilta-Sanomat wonders whether Germany can still be trusted:

“One possible explanation for the publication of the Russian wiretap recording is that it is meant as a message to Germany - and also the other Nato states. Germany and the other Nato states now know that the information security of at least the German Air Force and perhaps the rest of the defence apparatus is weaker than Russia's interception capabilities. And now they also know that Russia is aware of the internal German Taurus discussions - and the presence of Western soldiers in Ukraine. It is no longer entirely certain that the other Nato countries can rely on Germany's ability to keep and protect secrets.”

Gazeta Wyborcza interprets Germany's hesitation over arms deliveries as fruitless compliancy vis-à-vis Putin:

“Scholz tried so hard, and yet Kremlin propaganda denounced him anyway. The Russians would say: he lost his virtue and didn't earn a single rouble in exchange. ... All the civilised countries of the world are taking part in this war on the side of Ukraine, which is defending itself. ... We are not sending soldiers, but we are donating equipment, ammunition and money, training the Ukrainian army and supporting it in other ways. We do this driven by a simple calculation: if Ukraine loses, we are next on Russia's list. If the German military understands this, why doesn't the German Chancellor?”

Corriere della Sera explains:

“You have to look back to understand why Berlin is the prime target of Putin's hybrid war against the collective West. Germany has always been the weak point in Western relations with Moscow. ... It always kept political and economic channels with the Kremlin open. The weight of Nazi crimes in Operation Barbarossa [the Wehrmacht's war of aggression against the Soviet Union in 1941], the energy supplies that fuelled the various German economic miracles, and the reality of millions of compatriots held 'hostage' for half a century on the other side of the Wall were the background to the Ostpolitik that has determined the foreign policy of Bonn and then Berlin since Willy Brandt.”