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Germany has accused three men of plotting to use exploding packages to commit arson attacks, apparently on behalf of the Russian state, marking the latest alleged case of hybrid warfare being waged by Moscow on European soil.
German state prosecutors said on Wednesday three Ukrainian nationals were arrested earlier this month after they “declared their willingness to commit arson and explosive attacks on freight transport” to people who were “allegedly acting” on behalf of Russian authorities.
Russia has been accused of sabotage across Europe by western intelligence officials, including fires and parcel bombs. Local prosecutors linked Russian intelligence to a fire at an Ikea store in Vilnius last year, as well as an arson attack on a large retail store in Poland.
German intelligence and security officials have warned repeatedly that Russian agents and their proxies have stepped up their activities since Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Speaking in the Bundestag on Wednesday, Germany’s chancellor Friedrich Merz warned that Russia was conducting “espionage and sabotage and the systematic [spreading of] disinformation.” He added: “This is overwhelmingly the work of the Russian leadership and its accomplices. Even here in our own country.”
The Kremlin has denied accusations of hybrid warfare.
German prosecutors said the men agreed in March to ship parcels containing explosive or incendiary devices from Germany to Ukraine, which would detonate during transport.
One of the men, who in line with German privacy laws was named only as Vladyslav T, allegedly explored suitable transport routes via the city of Cologne by using GPS trackers in two test packages.
Two other men, Yevhen B and Daniil B, are accused of aiding with the shipment order and the contents of the package.
The men were arrested in the German cities of Cologne and Konstanz while a third was arrested in the Swiss canton of Thurgau, where he is awaiting deportation to Germany.
The then head of Germany’s domestic intelligence service, Thomas Haldenwang, warned last year that Germany narrowly avoided a plane crash after a parcel destined for an aircraft’s hold burst into flames before the flight.
Though he didn’t directly blame Russia, Haldenwang warned during his appearance before a parliamentary committee of a dramatic increase in “aggressive behaviour” by Russian agents.
German officials have also pointed to suspected attacks on undersea cables in the Baltic Sea and suspicious drones around military bases as possible attempts by Russia to covertly undermine the country’s security.
They have even pointed to Russia as the likely culprit behind an apparent attempt to influence February’s parliamentary elections.
German police said four suspects — a German, a Serb, a Romanian and a Bosnian — allegedly blocked car exhaust pipes with construction foam and put stickers on the vehicles suggesting the vandalism was the work of Green party activists. One of them said that he acted at the behest of a Russian who contacted him online.
