German investigators on Wednesday said that three men have been arrested on suspicion of acting as "agents" for "sabotage" on behalf of Russia. 

Officials said the three, all Ukrainian nationals, were prepared to commit acts of arson and planned to ship packages containing explosive devices, and had conveyed this to individuals "believed to be acting on behalf of Russian state authorities."

What do we know about the sabotage plans?

The suspects allegedly intended to target goods transports headed to Ukraine, which would "ignite during transport," federal prosecutors said.

Two of the men were arrested over the weekend in the cities of Cologne and Konstanz. Another was arrested in Switzerland on Tuesday. 

According to reports in Germany's Spiegel news magazine, the three had started running tests for a possible attack by sending of parcels with GPS trackers to Ukrainian addresses.

Germany wary of Russian plots

German intelligence services believe individuals working on behalf of Russia are hiring people to carry out espionage and sabotage operations across the country. 

Authorities have warned of a growing threat of Russian acts of sabotage since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Authorities said one of the men arrested had discussed sabotage operations on German soil targeted industrial sites and military infrastructure in an attempt to undermine German aid to Ukraine. 

Thomas Haldenwang, the head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency, told a parliamentary committee in October 2024 that Russian sabotage was suspected to be the cause of an air freight parcel that caught fire on the tarmac before being transported onto an DHL aircraft in Leipzig. 

 

Edited by: Wesley Rahn