Germany: Police suspect Russia behind car vandalism

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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