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Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry

Photo: Sergey Guneev / SNA / IMAGO

The Russian government is trying to make as much capital as possible from the publication of the Bundeswehr's intercepted Taurus briefing.

Maria Zacharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, described the German officers as “inglorious bastards.”

This is reported by the Russian news agency Tass.

Zacharova probably didn't choose her words by chance.

In an interview with the news agency, she recalled the Nazi atrocities in Crimea.

Zacharova essentially adopted the name of the Quentin Tarantino film “Inglourious Basterds”.

It's about resistance against the Nazis.

Since Russia released the recording, a propaganda show has been running in Moscow.

State-controlled Russian media and the government are now portraying it as if the German officers had already planned the specific use of the Taurus cruise missile against Russia.

The Kremlin has thus initiated a new phase of hybrid warfare against Germany.

In fact, the officers discussed operational scenarios - but always with the background in mind if Germany were to deliver the cruise missile to Ukraine.

However, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has said several times in the past few days that he clearly rejects delivery of the cruise missile to Ukraine.

And it can also be heard in the recording that there is no green light for the delivery at the political level.

By publishing the recording, the Kremlin apparently wants to maintain pressure on the federal government to ensure that Scholz sticks to his decision not to deliver Taurus cruise missiles.

When Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) announced the first results of the internal investigation into the incident, he warned against being unsettled by such Russian actions.

Vladimir Putin is playing a “perfidious game.”

"We will not let this hybrid attack from Russia drive us apart."

Russia has already made rude comments towards the West in the past.

In January, former President Dmitry Medvedev mocked Chancellor Olaf Scholz as a “liverwurst.”

In December 2023, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described the German authorities as “kleptomaniacs” for attempting to confiscate Russian funds from a Russian bank.

slü/Reuters