Following raids in two German cities and Switzerland, Germany's Federal Prosecutor's Office has arrested three Ukrainian citizens suspected of planning attacks on behalf of Moscow.
According to the German magazine Der Spiegel, German investigators have apparently thwarted several sabotage operations organized by Russia. The German Federal Prosecutor's Office arrested two people over the weekend. A third suspect was detained on Tuesday evening. The arrests took place in the German cities of Konstanz and Cologne and in Switzerland.
According to Der Spiegel, German authorities are accusing Ukrainians Vladislav T., Danil B. and Yevhen B. of "agent activities with the aim of sabotage." They are suspected of having expressed their willingness to carry out deliberate arson and explosions with explosives. According to security circles, these operations were most likely planned on behalf of the Russian authorities.
According to investigators, the suspects had already begun testing a planned operation: they had sent packages addressed to Ukraine with GPS tracking devices. Yevhen B. allegedly obtained the devices in Switzerland and sent them to Danil B. in Konstanz, who then sent them to Cologne. From there, Vladislav T. sent them to Ukraine. The aim was to uncover the routes of the packages, Der Spiegel reports.
The case confirms Western intelligence agencies' fears of Russian actions. "We have recently uncovered an extraordinary and ruthless sabotage campaign by Russia," the head of Britain's MI6 intelligence agency said in Paris in December. Russia wants to cause "chaos in Europe," another head of a European intelligence agency added.
In July last year, a fire broke out in a shipping container on the runway of Leipzig Airport in eastern Germany. The fire was most likely caused by a package addressed to London, which contained a hidden fuel. According to security authorities, the container was scheduled to be loaded onto a DHL cargo plane when the fire broke out. Only because the plane was delayed was the container still on the ground. Three days after the Leipzig incident, a similar incident occurred in England. A package addressed to an address in Birmingham caught fire at the DHL logistics company's warehouse. Both packages were delivered to Lithuania and sent to the UK.
This week, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk held Russia responsible for a major fire in a shopping mall in Warsaw that broke out a year ago. On Platform X, Tusk said it was now certain that the fire was caused by an act of arson ordered by the Russian secret services. Some of the suspected perpetrators have already been arrested. A joint statement from the Polish Interior and Justice Ministries said extensive data had been collected on the course of the arson. The suspects had even documented parts of their actions. The major fire destroyed around 1,400 shops and services, but there were no injuries. (A2 Televizion)
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