Germany shocked by Russian assassination plot

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

US officials informed their counterparts in Berlin earlier this year and security around him was increased, CNN reported.

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

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

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the allegations. “It is all presented in the style of another fake story, so such reports cannot be taken seriously.”

Rheinmetall avoids commenting on “corporate security” issues, but Mr Papperger is now described as the most heavily guarded figure in the German economy. He told the Financial Times that German authorities had imposed “a huge level of security around me”.

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

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, including a joint venture to produce artillery shells.

Mr Papperger said at the time that his company wanted to deliver the first Lynx infantry fighting vehicles by the end of this year and soon start producing them in Ukraine.

Although Chancellor Olaf Scholz avoided commenting directly on the reported assassination plot, he said Germany is well aware that it faces multiple threats from Russia and is paying close attention to them.

“We take the growing threat of Russian aggression very seriously,” said Interior Secretary Nancy Faeser.

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

The German foreign minister said the Baltic states had highlighted the various methods deployed by Russia’s Vladimir Putin in his war with Ukraine. As well as sabotage, she spoke of cyber attacks and disrupting GPS signals so Baltic flights could no longer land in neighbouring countries.

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

In early May, a building complex owned by the company Diehl Metall caught fire in southwest Berlin. While a technical fault was believed to be the cause of the fire, arson has not been ruled out. Suspicious fires have also been reported in Poland and Lithuania.

Last April, Mr Papperger’s garden house was burned down in Hermannsburg in northern Germany, although there is no evidence to suggest the incident was linked to Russia.

The fire was quickly brought under control and a lengthy, anonymous confession purportedly by left-wing militants appeared on the activist network Indymedia.

The plot against such a high-profile German CEO has caused widespread concern.

Leading conservative Roderich Kiesewetter said the chancellor should be clear with the German people about the seriousness of the threat from Russia. He said German intelligence should be brought up to par with its neighbours.

“We have to be really serious about this and also prepare ourselves accordingly,” he told public broadcaster ZDF.

Michael Roth, chairman of Germany’s foreign affairs committee, told the Bild newspaper that Vladimir Putin was waging a “war of destruction not only against Ukraine but also against those who support it and our values”.

The head of the defence committee, Marcus Faber, further condemned that if information about the involvement of Russian intelligence came to light, “diplomats must be expelled and, if necessary, international arrest warrants issued”.