Police in Germany arrested two suspected Russian agents accused of plotting to bomb military sites and industrial areas to disrupt the delivery of aid to Ukraine.
The two men, identified in court documents as Dieter S., 39, and Alexander J., 37, were taken into custody Wednesday in Bayreuth in southeast Germany. Prosecutors said the two were communicating with the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency, to plan acts of sabotage on German soil, the Financial Times reported.
Prosecutors said the duo scouted potential targets, including the U.S. Army base in Grafenwoehr, where Ukrainian soldiers are training to operate M1 Abrams tanks. The suspects prepared photographs, videos and maps of sites as possible targets.
“Our security authorities have prevented possible explosive attacks that were intended to target and undermine our military assistance to Ukraine. It is a particularly serious case of alleged spy activity for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s criminal regime,” said Nancy Faeser, Germany’s interior minister.
The Financial Times said German police are working to identify a wider network of the two men. Dieter S. has been on the radar of security officials since at least 2014 when he was fighting for Russian-led separatists in Ukraine’s disputed Donetsk region.
Germany has emerged as a major supplier of firepower for Ukraine. Less than a week after Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine in 2022, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that the government would increase the country’s military budget to 2% of gross domestic product, the highest level since the end of World War II.
“We will continue to provide massive support for Ukraine and will not allow ourselves to be intimidated,” Ms. Faeser said after Wednesday’s arrests, according to Financial Times.