Germany accuses UK’s Ben Wallace of falling into ‘Russian trap’ by criticizing intel leak

LONDON — Germany's ambassador to the U.K. accused former Defence Secretary Ben Wallace of “falling into the Russian trap” by criticizing a recently leaked phone call in which top German military officers discussed support for Ukraine.

The phone call, which was initially published by Russian state-controlled media, saw military personnel discuss how Taurus long-range cruise missiles could be used by Ukraine — and shed light on Britain's role in Ukraine's war with Russia.

Wallace — who served as Britain's defense secretary until last year took aim at Germany for the leak, saying the country is “pretty penetrated by Russian intelligence, so it just demonstrates they are neither secure nor reliable.” 

But speaking on Radio 4’s Today show Wednesday, Ambassador Miguel Berger hit back, describing Wallace’s comments as “extremely unhelpful."

“This is what Russia wants by publishing this phone conversation," he said.

“In the end, it was a very professional talk about the use of long-range missiles. But we have to be careful not to fall into the Russian trap of creating division, and regrettably, some people have fallen into this trap.”

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Tuesday that the call in question was intercepted after one of the participants logged in through an insecure line from a hotel room in Singapore.

Berger told the BBC there is “no need” for the German government to apologize and that preliminary results from an investigation into the cause of the leak show that it was caused by an “individual mistake” by one of the officers.