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Germany says it has expelled "many" Russian agents

Politiko 2025-04-23 20:15:55

Germany says it has expelled "many" Russian agents

Berlin said on April 23 that it had recently expelled "many" Russian agents, as Germany faces a growing threat from acts of sabotage led by Moscow.

German authorities are "doing everything they can to combat Russian espionage, sabotage and cyberattacks," Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sonja Kock said during a press conference.

Russian intelligence services operating in Germany have been "recently weakened by the expulsion of many agents," Kock said, without giving an exact number or when exactly these expulsions took place.

Her statements came after German media reported that Russian intelligence services are believed to have employed low-level operatives in connection with a plot to plant explosive devices on DHL cargo planes.

According to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and public broadcasters WDR and NDR, these agents had no position within the security services and were usually recruited through messaging apps to carry out operations in exchange for money.

The investigation into "possible acts of sabotage with explosive devices in DHL packages is continuing with intensity," Kock said, without providing further details.

An incident in July last year, in which several packages exploded at DHL warehouses in Germany and Britain, has been described by the head of German domestic intelligence, Thomas Haldenwang, as a "lucky accident" because it had limited impact.

Testifying before a parliamentary committee in October, Haldenwang had said that "a plane would crash" if the packages had exploded in flight.

Kock stated on Wednesday that "the risk of sabotage... has increased significantly in Germany since the start of Russia's war against Ukraine."

She added that German authorities are monitoring Russian intelligence efforts to "recruit people in exchange for payment."/ REL

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