Ukraine war: Germany shocked by alleged Russian assassination attempt

German politicians have reacted angrily to reports that Russia was planning to assassinate the head of Germany’s largest arms company, Rheinmetall, Armin Papperger.

According to the CNN report, US officials had already informed their colleagues in Berlin about this at the beginning of the year, after which security measures around him were increased.

The German Interior Ministry declined to comment, but Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock appeared to confirm the details.

“In light of the recent reports about Rheinmetall, this is exactly what we have actually communicated more and more clearly in recent months,” she told journalists at the NATO summit in Washington. “Russia is waging a hybrid war of aggression.”

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the allegations: “All this is presented in the style of another fake story, so such reports cannot be taken seriously.”

Rheinmetall avoided commenting on “corporate security” issues, but Papperger is now described as the most protected figure in German business. He told the Financial Times that German authorities had imposed “a high level of security measures on my person.”

The company is one of the world’s largest ammunition producers and plays a central role in supplying Ukraine with weapons, armored vehicles and other military equipment.

Rheinmetall recently opened a tank repair plant in western Ukraine. Last month, the company signed an agreement with Ukraine to expand cooperation in the coming years. Among other things, a joint venture for the production of artillery shells is to be established.

Papperger said at the time that his company wanted to deliver the first Lynx infantry fighting vehicles this year and start production in Ukraine soon.

Although Chancellor Olaf Scholz avoided commenting directly on the alleged assassination plot, he said it was common knowledge that Germany was facing a variety of Russian threats and was monitoring them closely.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said: “We take the significantly increased threat of Russian aggression very seriously.”

Earlier this week, a senior NATO official told the BBC that Russia was “conducting aggressive covert operations across Europe – including sabotage, arson and assassination plots – aimed at weakening public support for Ukraine.”

The German Foreign Minister said the Baltic states had already pointed out the various methods used by Russian President Vladimir Putin in his war against Ukraine. She spoke of acts of sabotage, cyber attacks and the disruption of GPS signals so that Baltic flights could no longer land in neighboring countries.

“We have seen that there have been attacks on factories and this underlines once again that we as Europeans must protect ourselves together as best we can and not be naive,” Ms Baerbock told reporters.

At the beginning of May, a building complex belonging to the Diehl Metall company burned down in southwest Berlin. Although a technical defect was suspected as the cause of the fire, sabotage has not been ruled out. Suspicious fires have also been reported in Poland and Lithuania.