Germany says it won't be intimidated by Russian threats after report on alleged assassination plot
Neither Rheinmetall nor the German government would comment on the report. Interior Ministry spokesperson Maximilian Kall said his ministry can’t comment on “individual threat situations,” but added that more broadly “we take the significantly increased threat from Russian aggression very seriously.”
“We know that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s regime wants above all to undermine our support for Ukraine in its defence against the Russian war of aggression, but the German government won’t be intimidated,” Kall said.
He noted that German security measures have been increased significantly since 2022, and that “the threats range from espionage and sabotage, through cyberattacks, to state terrorism”.
In April, German investigators arrested two German-Russian men on suspicion of espionage, one of them accused of agreeing to carry out attacks on potential targets including US military facilities in hopes of sabotaging aid for Ukraine.
Germany has become the second-biggest supplier of weapons to Ukraine after the United States since Russia started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago. CNN reported that the alleged Papperger plot was one of a series of Russian plans to kill defence industry executives across Europe supporting the Ukrainian war effort.
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