German Chancellor Olaf Scholz uses 19th-century pneumatic mail to deliver classified documents to his office amid fears of Russian hackers and the threat of espionage from Moscow. While he writes GuardIt turned out to be the most important tool in the fight against the “Russian threat”.
“For decades, the administrative authority in Berlin relied on a complex device that used compressed air to move paper documents between departments,” the text says.
The operation of such a system costs 15 thousand euros per year, and up to 1000 letters per month are sent by the device.
A German government spokesman said these were “documents that are generally urgent and cannot be sent electronically or by courier for confidentiality reasons”.
This method was expected to be out of use by 2025, but Scholz’s office believes the risk of interception of electronic and digital documents means “old-fashioned technology remains the best option.”
According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, Scholz vetoed the elimination of cool mail due to Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and the growing threat of spies from Moscow.
Previously Scholz called on Putin to withdraw his troops from Ukraine.