Excitement about saboteurs

German traffic light criticizes Putin’s “terror strategy”

Annalena Baerbock has summoned the Russian ambassador.

(Bild: AP)

Two suspected Russian saboteurs were arrested in Bavaria on Wednesday morning. The German chief diplomat Annalena Baerbock has now summoned the Russian ambassador. The German government does not want to be intimidated by Putin's "terror strategy".

The suspected agents are said to have spied for Russia and scouted out possible targets for attacks in Germany. According to the German Federal Prosecutor General, the two German-Russian nationals were involved in sabotage activities that were intended in particular to "undermine the military support provided by Germany to Ukraine against the Russian war of aggression".

Germany's Federal Government has now responded to this. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) summoned the Russian ambassador to Berlin, the Federal Foreign Office announced on Thursday. No further details were initially provided.

Arrests have "enormous symbolic power"
"We know that the Russian power apparatus is also focusing on our country," said German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann from the FDP. In an interview with Bild, he spoke of a "new quality" due to the suspected planned explosives attacks. The arrests had "enormous symbolic power" and showed how strong democracy and the rule of law are in Germany. The Minister of Justice made it clear: "We are doing everything we can to ensure that Putin's terror strategy has no chance in our country."

Germany had to respond to this threat in a defensive and resolute manner. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) spoke of a particularly serious case of suspected agent activity for Russia. She emphasized: "We will continue to provide Ukraine with massive support and will not allow ourselves to be intimidated."

Does Germany have a spy problem?
This is not the first suspected espionage case to occupy Germany: A former employee of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) is currently on trial in Berlin. The federal prosecutor's office is accusing him and a businessman of treason in a particularly serious case. They are alleged to have passed secret documents and information from the German foreign intelligence service to the Russian domestic intelligence service FSB in September and October 2022. According to the indictment, they received an "agent's fee" of 450,000 euros and 400,000 euros respectively for this. The two Germans are in custody.

Last August, a professional soldier who worked at the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support was arrested in Koblenz. This institution is responsible for equipping the Bundeswehr with equipment and weapons as well as developing, testing and procuring military technology. From May 2023, the man is said to have repeatedly offered to work with the Russian Consulate General in Bonn and the Russian Embassy in Berlin.