Dan Sabbagh and Pjotr Sauer, writing for The Guardian »
The most serious threat was an assassination plot targeting Armin Papperger, the CEO of the German defence company Rheinmetall, one of many European firms helping supply Ukraine. Though this was detected, other arms industry executives around Europe were also said to have been targeted by Russian assassins.
Police are investigating whether Russian spies posted incendiary devices – via the delivery firm DHL – around Europe, to Birmingham in the UK and Leipzig in Germany. This would have carried the risk of the devices catching fire inside the cargo bay of a plane and bringing it down, as the head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency warned on Monday this week. It may be fortunate that no lives were lost.
Similarly, other suspected arson attacks – such as the burning down of a shopping mall in Warsaw in May – could easily have had more serious consequences. Poland has also accused Russian plotters of setting fire to an Ikea delivery centre the same month; while a Ukraine-linked warehouse in Leyton, east London, was set alight in an attack thought to be linked to Russia.
Last week Ken McCallum, the head of MI5, warned that Russia’s GRU was engaged in a campaign to “generate mayhem on British and European streets” using proxies that “further reduces the professionalism of their operations”.
Last Updated on December 13, 2024