German government responding to CNN report regarding alleged Russian plan to assassinate the CEO of Germany defense company… Moscow won’t intimidate us
“Russian attempts to undermine the country’s support for Ukraine won’t intimidate it,” the German government said Friday, declining to comment on a media report that Moscow planned to assassinate the chief executive of the country’s leading defense company.
CNN reported on Thursday that Russia planned to assassinate the CEO of Rheinmetall defense company, Armin Baberger.
The German Interior Ministry spokesman Maximilian Kahl said his ministry couldn’t comment on these cases, but added that more broadly “we take the significantly increased threat of Russian aggression very seriously”.
“We know that the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin wants above all to undermine our support for Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s war of aggression, but the German government will not be intimidated,” Kahl said.
He noted that German security measures have increased significantly since 2022, and that “threats range from espionage and sabotage, through cyberattacks, to state terrorism”.
CNN also reported that the plan to assassinate the alleged German businessman was one of a series of Russian plans to kill defense industry executives across Europe to support the Ukrainian war effort.
On April, German investigators arrested two German-Russian men on suspicion of espionage.
One was accused of agreeing to carry out attacks on potential targets, including US military installations, in the hope of cutting aid to Ukraine.
Germany has become Ukraine’s second-largest arms supplier after the United States since it began Russia its all-out invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago.
