Everyone is angry at Germany after a series of snubs and screw-ups
- Leaked German military discussions about sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine have caused discord.
- Chancellor Olaf Scholz also created a furore by suggesting the UK and France have troops there.
It's not been a good week or two for Germany.
After the US, Germany is the country sending the most military aid to Ukraine, at least in terms of volume. But thanks to recent events, frustrations are now spilling out into the open.
Germany's leader is facing blistering criticism from France and the UK in the wake of a highly embarrassing leak of sensitive military discussions that reopened simmering disagreements over support to Ukraine.
President Emmanuel Macron of France all but called German Chancellor Olaf Scholz a coward in remarks made about Europe's allyship with Ukraine on Tuesday, as Le Monde reported.
The UK's former defense minister Ben Wallace also weighed in, calling Scholz "the wrong man, in the wrong job at the wrong time."
A mortifying leak
Part of this anger was triggered by Russian state broadcaster RT publishing a 38-minute leaked recording of four German officials discussing how Ukraine could deploy German Taurus missiles.
Business Insider has not verified the authenticity of the recording, but German authorities have not questioned it, the Associated Press reported.
Taurus missiles are — very broadly speaking — Germany's equivalent to the Storm Shadow: powerful, long-range weapons with a strong ability to evade air defenses. While Ukraine has already received Storm Shadows from the UK and France, Scholz continues to refuse to send Taurus.
However, in the recording, the officials discussed in hypothetical terms the number of Taurus missiles needed to target the Kerch Bridge in Crimea, a key target for Ukraine.
The leak was deeply embarrassing for Germany — not least because the discussion took place on an unsecured line, The Associated Press reported.
Scholz was already treading on delicate ground with his allies.
Offering his reasoning in late February as to why he is reluctant to send the missiles, Scholz said that German troops would be needed to operate them — a move that would involve Germany too closely in the conflict, he said.
He added: "What the British and French are doing in terms of target control and support for target control cannot be done in Germany," Politico reported.
Neither country has publicly revealed if, and how many, of their troops might be working in this capacity in Ukraine.
The UK's MOD did not respond to BI's request for comment, but the chair of the UK government's Foreign Affairs Committee tore into Scholz, saying on X his remarks were "wrong, irresponsible and a slap in the face to allies."
France's Ministry of Defence told BI there is "no such initiative," but declined to comment further.
Scholz's logic on the necessity of German troops to operate Taurus has also been questioned — South Korea has 260 Taurus missiles and no on-the-ground German presence, as Der Westen reported.
Nonetheless, Russia has seized on the leak as a propaganda coup and as evidence that Europe was ready to escalate the war into a NATO conflict.
"Our eternal opponents — the Germans — have again turned into sworn enemies," Russian Security Council chief Dmitry Medvedev wrote on Telegram, per Politico.
Ironically, this is exactly the sort of outcome Scholz has sought to avoid.
Scholz is among the most cautious of Western leaders, fearful that President Vladimir Putin will read increasingly lethal aid to Ukraine as a sign of escalation.
"It's systematically a behavior of never wanting to be the first country, or the only country, that delivers a weapon system that can provide a significant battlefield advantage," Edward Hunter Christie, a senior research fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, told BI.
But a recent public poll found that 62% of Germans supported sending more arms to Ukraine, and Germany's own foreign minister has urged the government to send Taurus missiles.
A run-in with Macron
Germany is second only to the US when it comes to the volume of military aid it sends to Ukraine, including, most recently, a powerful air defense system.
But Scholz has a history of stalling on the more impactful offensive weapons. Germany only allowed the transfer of Leopard tanks after international pressure reached boiling point — and after the UK pointedly sent Ukraine Challenger tanks.The furore around the leak is only part of the problem, however — Scholz is also engaged in a public spat with France's president.
