Russia has dismissed claims that it planned to assassinate the boss of one of Germany and Europe’s biggest arms companies, as Berlin said it would not be intimidated by Moscow’s “hybrid war” against western states that support Ukraine.
US intelligence uncovered a Russian plot to kill Armin Papperger, chief executive of the giant Rheinmetall firm that supplies weapons to Kyiv, and informed Germany in time to ensure he was protected from attack, according to reports in leading US media.
Citing five US and western officials familiar with the episode, CNN said the plot against Mr Papperger was the most advanced of a series of Russian plans to kill defence industry chiefs across Europe whose firms supply Ukraine’s military.
“It is very hard for us to comment on reports by various news media that don’t contain any serious arguments and are based on some anonymous sources,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. “All this is presented in the style of another fake story. One can’t take such reports seriously.”
German minister for interior affairs Nancy Faeser said Berlin was “taking the significantly increased threat from Russian aggression very seriously.”
“We will not allow ourselves to be intimidated by Russia and will continue to do everything we can to prevent Russian threats in Germany,” Ms Faeser added, noting that those threats “range from espionage, sabotage and cyber attacks to state terrorism”.
Mr Papperger told the Financial Times that Berlin had established a “great level of security around my person,” and an unnamed source told the newspaper that he had a similar level of protection to German chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Rheinmetall is one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of shells and other artillery ammunition, and has increased production since Russia launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It has formed a joint venture with a state-owned Ukrainian arms firm to build and repair tanks in Ukraine and plans to open an ammunition factory there.
“Russia is waging a hybrid war of aggression,” said German minister for foreign affairs Annalena Baerbock. “We have seen that there have been attacks on people on European territory. We have seen that there have been attacks on factories. And this emphasises once again that we as Europeans must protect ourselves ... and not be naive.”
[ Ukraine’s military recruitment drive looks to prisons and Poland to boost numbersOpens in new window ]
Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said Russia was conducting a “campaign” of sabotage, cyber, arson and other attacks against member states “to intimidate Nato allies from supporting Ukraine”.
Mr Stoltenberg’s comments come as the United Nations general assembly adopted a resolution calling on Russia to “urgently withdraw its military and other unauthorised personnel” from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and return it to Kyiv’s control.
Russian troops seized the plant – which is the biggest such facility in Europe – in early 2022 and claim to be protecting it from Ukrainian attack.
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