German Ambassador to Russia Alexander Lambsdorff spent about an hour at the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow on March 4 amid a dispute between the two countries over the publication of a recording of a confidential discussion between German military officials about providing the long-range Taurus missile to Ukraine.
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Russan state media reported Lambsdorff had been summoned over leaked audio recordings of the German officers discussing the provision of advanced weapons to Ukraine. German Foreign Ministry said that it was "a long-planned meeting."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the same day that the leaked conversations "once again highlight the direct involvement of the collective West in the conflict in Ukraine" and that the recording shows Germany "is discussing substantively and specifically plans to strike Russian territory."
The Foreign Ministry in Moscow said in a statement that it had demanded during the meeting with Lambsdorff that Germany "provide explanations concerning the German top brass's conversation" over the weapons, adding that Berlin's assistance to Kyiv "vividly points to the collective West’s involvement into the conflict around Ukraine."
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the leak of the recording was an attempt by Russia to split Western allies.
"This is a bald attempt and a transparent attempt by the Russians to try to sow discord and to try to show division, to try to make it look like the West isn't unified," Kirby said.
Kirby's comments echoed those of German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, who said the timing of the release of the recording was aimed at undermining Western resolve.
"It is about using this recording to destabilize and unsettle us," Pistorius said at a news briefing in Berlin on March 3.
The German Defense Ministry on March 3 confirmed that the leaked audio contained an intercepted conversation but could not tell whether it had been edited or doctored in any way.
The 38-minute recording was posted on Russian social media on March 1, initially by Margarita Simonyan, editor in chief of state-controlled RT television, formerly known as Russia Today. She did not say how she obtained the recording.
In the recording, Air Force Commander General Ingo Gerhartz, Brigadier General Frank Graefe, and other officers discussed the possible use by Ukraine of German-made Taurus missiles, which can strike targets up to 500 kilometers away.
The recording included discussion of how Germany could provide the missiles if the government authorized the transfer and whether the Taurus would be capable of disabling the 18-kilometer Crimean Bridge, which links Russia with the Ukrainian region of Crimea, which Moscow occupied in 2014.
Kyiv has been seeking the weapon to boost its defenses against Russia’s invasion, which has now entered its third year.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has refused to provide the missiles, fearing that doing so could lead to an escalation of the conflict.
SEE ALSO: Leaked Recording Of German Military Call On Taurus Missiles Is Part Of Putin's 'Information War,' Says MinisterRussian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev told a youth forum on March 4 that Moscow would respond to the recordings “with restraint” but would not forget about them.