Germany: Police suspect Russia behind car vandalism
A criminal campaign that saw more than 270 car exhaust pipes filled with expanding foam is suspected of being a Russian sabotage aimed at discrediting the Green Party, according to German authorities.
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Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck speaking at a Green Party campaign event
German police are investigating claims that Russia was responsible for coordinating a sabotage campaign aimed at blaming environmentalists and the Green Party for the vandalism of hundreds of cars.
More than 270 vehicles in Berlin and the state of Brandenburg, as well as in the southern states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, had their exhaust pipes blocked with expanding foam.
According to Spiegel magazine, police found construction foam pellets 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 complaints about gas damage. Stickers depicting Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck, the Green Party's candidate for chancellor in the upcoming federal election, and bearing the message: "Be greener!" " were then placed in the damaged cars.
Speaking to German public radio ARD on Wednesday evening, Habeck said he was not surprised but insisted he and his party were well equipped to deal with such incidents. "I am sure we will see more attacks like this 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 boxes of construction foam found during searches.
One of the men said he and his associates were contacted and ordered to carry out the attacks by a Russian using the instant messaging service Viber. He said they were given detailed instructions and promised 100 euros ($104) for each damaged vehicle.
In fact, thousands of euros were paid.
Expanding foam coming out of a can Expanding foam coming out of a can
Expanded foam like this was used to fill car exhaust pipes Image: °ts/Shotshop/Photo Alliance
How did the Greens react? According to Spiegel, sources in security circles suspect a campaign aimed at discrediting Habeck and the Greens in the run-up to the federal elections on February 23.
"For months, espionage and sabotage have been deliberately used to foment insecurity, to fuel existing conflicts and to divide us as a society," Green MP Konstantin von Notz said in a statement to DW. "We Greens have long been warning that some authoritarian states, including Russia and China, are trying to weaken Germany, manipulate our public discourse and attack democratic processes, including elections."
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, also a member of the Green Party, warned of "hybrid threats."
"That is why we, as a federal government, have made it clear in our national security strategy that we will continue to strengthen our defenses against disinformation and the sustainability of our democracy," she said.
"This includes exposing the Kremlin's perfidious strategies and bringing its collaborators to justice."
The German Interior Ministry declined to speculate on suggestions that Russia was behind the sabotage of the car and said investigations were still ongoing.
But Germany's domestic intelligence service (Bundesamt für The German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) has warned of a growing trend in recent months of Russian actors recruiting petty criminals to carry out acts of espionage and sabotage in exchange for money.
One reason for the new approach is that sanctions, travel restrictions and increased surveillance by Western intelligence agencies have made it more difficult for professional Russian spies to operate in Europe.
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