German police are investigating claims that Russia was responsible for coordinating a sabotage campaign which aimed to blame environmentalists and the Green Party for the vandalism of hundreds of cars.
Over 270 vehicles in Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg, as well as in the southern states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, had their exhaust pipes blocked with expanding construction foam.
According to Spiegel news magazine, police found construction foam cartridges and foam guns in a van driven by three men during a routine patrol in Schönefeld, just outside Berlin, in December. Shortly after, 43 car owners filed reports of damage to exhaust pipes.
Stickers were then left on the damaged cars depicting Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck, the Green Party’s chancellor candidate in the upcoming federal election, and bearing the message: “Be greener!”
Speaking to German public broadcaster ARD on Wednesday evening, Habeck said he wasn’t surprised but insisted he and his party were well equipped to deal with such incidents. “I’m sure we’ll experience attacks like this more often in the next two-and-a-half-weeks,” he said.
Suspect claims he was paid by a Russian
Prosecutors in the southern city of Ulm also have four suspects in their sights. A police spokesman said four men – a German, a Serb, a Romanian and a Bosnian aged 17, 18, 20 and 29 – were suspected of 123 counts of vandalism, with tins of construction foam found during house searches.
One of the men claimed that he and his accomplices had been contacted and commissioned to carry out the attacks by a Russian using the chat messenger Viber. He said they had received detailed instructions and had been promised €100 ($104) for every damaged vehicle.
Thousands of euros were indeed paid.
How has the Green Party responded?
According to Spiegel, sources in security circles suspect a targeted campaign aimed at discrediting Habeck and the Green Party ahead of the federal election on February 23.
“For months, espionage and sabotage have been used in a targeted attempt to stir up uncertainty, fuel existing conflicts and divide us as a society,” said Green politician Konstantin von Notz in a statement to DW.
“We Greens have been pointing out for a long time that various authoritarian states, particularly Russia and China, have been aiming to weaken Germany, manipulate our public discourse and attack democratic processes, including elections.”
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, also of the Green Party, warned against “hybrid threats.
“That’s why we as the federal government have made it clear in our national security strategy that we will continue to strengthen our defenses against disinformation and the resilience of our democracy,” she said.
“That includes uncovering the Kremlin’s perfidious strategies and bringing its stooges to justice.”
The German Interior Ministry refused to speculate on suggestions that Russia was behind the car sabotage and said investigations were still ongoing.
But Germany’s domestic intelligence services (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz or BfV) has warned of an increasing tendency in recent months of Russian actors to recruit petty criminals to carry out acts of espionage and sabotage in return for money.
One reason for this new approach is that sanctions, travel restrictions and the increased alertness of western intelligence agencies have made it harder for professional Russian spies to operate in Europe.
Edited by: Louis Oelofse
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