An assassination plot against the CEO of German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall by the Russian Federation was foiled by American intelligence, five US officials revealed on Friday. The planned killing of Armin Papperger, the CEO of Rheinmetall, was a part of a larger plot by the Russia to assassinate key figures within arms manufacturing companies across Europe.
Attempts to Interfere in Aid to Ukraine
While others were in the sights of the Russian Federation, officials told reporters that the plot against Papperger was the closest to being conducted. Furthermore, Rheinmetall poses a large strategic target for Russia, as the company is the largest German manufacturer of 155mm artillery shells, which have proved to be vital to Ukraine amid the ongoing war with Russia. The company’s role in the conflict continues to be vital, as Rheinmetall will open an armored vehicle plant in Ukraine in the coming weeks which has further soured relations between Germany and Russia.
The company is not just vital to Ukraine, however. Rheinmetall has also entered numerous contracts with the Bundeswehr, Germany’s military, to aid in the country’s rearmament amid deteriorating relations with Russia. These contracts include orders for logistical trucks and Germany’s deteriorated stock of 155mm artillery shells which have fallen significantly amid shipments of supplies to Ukraine.
Following the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that the nation would bolster its military strength amid fears of further Russian aggression. In this speech, known as the “Zeitenwende Speech,” or “turning point,” Scholz announced that Germany would work towards increasing its military spending from 1.5% to NATO’s target of 2% of the nation’s GDP. Not only does Zeitenwende seek to increase military spending, but the policy also aims to secure Germany’s independence from Russian gas, instead moving towards renewable energy.
Aside from Rheinmetall, the German government has also reached out to a number of foreign defense companies, ordering 20 Eurofighter aircraft from the Netherlands’ Airbus. A German official previously told Reuters the nation seeks to purchase eight additional Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets in addition to Germany’s 35 already commissioned F-35s.
Aside from increasing military orders, Germany has also bolstered its military presence in the Baltic. In early April, the German government announced the construction of a new NATO base in Lithuania. This base will hold a total of 4,800 active soldiers alongside 200 civilian Bundeswehr members and employees to maintain the base.
Plots and Sabotage
The failed assassination comes amid increasing acts of espionage by the Russian Federation, especially in the field of cyber warfare. In May, the German government, alongside the Czech Republic, the US Department of State, and NATO accused the Russian government of initiating cyberattacks against Germany’s defense and aerospace firms alongside the ruling Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) party.
NATO further claimed that entities in Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Sweden, along with government bodies and “critical infrastructure operators,” have also been targeted in attacks organized by Russia, while the Russian Embassy in Germany called the accusations “another unfriendly step aimed at inciting anti-Russian sentiments in Germany.”
In another cyberattack connected to the Russian Federation, Poland’s National News Agency (PAP) released two false reports on May 31 which stated that the country would mobilize two hundred thousand military personnel on the first of July. Following the article’s release, the PAP denied being the source of the reports before stating that the article was not written or published by members of staff.
The PAP stated that the news outlet was the target of a cyberattack, allowing the false reports to be published. The outlet further stated that information regarding the attack had already been sent to authorities who traced the origin of the attack.
Russian-backed cyberattacks have proven to be a significant issue across the international community, with the International Criminal Court (ICC) reportedly opening its own investigation into attacks targeting Ukraine in June. One official working on the case told Reuters that the ICC probe sought to investigate cyberattacks that targeted water and power infrastructure, jeopardizing the lives of civilians in the process. These attacks allegedly cut communications from emergency responders, while attacks against mobile data services impeded civilians’ ability to receive warnings regarding missile attacks from Russian forces.
Russian attacks against NATO-aligned nations has drawn the attention of the organization as a whole, with the coalition discussing Russia’s “hybrid-warfare” in detail over this week’s summit. These attacks also come amid a number of elections in European nations. Russia surely sees these elections as a chance to influence European sentiment on the conflict in Ukraine and seeks to empower parties aligned with the Russian Federation.
One such attempt at skewing public opinion lies in Poland, where a Ukrainian man was recruited by a Russian agent to create anti-war graffiti before being ordered to plant surveillance cameras and burn down the fence of a Ukrainian-owned transportation company, CNN reported. Poland itself has been the target of a number of attacks ranging from targeting infrastructure to a failed plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
These operations against Poland are further amplified due to the nation’s shared border with Belarus, which Poland accuses of exacerbating the current migrant crisis by importing refugees from countries in the Middle East and Africa before forcing them to cross the border into Poland. In July 2023, following the spotting of an estimated 100 Wagner PMC soldiers, Poland’s Prime Minister at the time, Mateusz Morawiecki, claimed that the private military contractors may have planned to pose as border guards in order to smuggle migrants across the border in an effort to destabilize Poland.
The border between the two countries remains volatile, with a knife attack severely injuring a Polish soldier near the village of Dubicze Cerkiewne in early June after a migrant stabbed the soldier in the ribs through bars in the border wall between the two nations. The soldier remains in serious condition in the hospital. Following this attack, Donald Tusk, Poland’s Prime Minister, stated that Poland would continue to fortify the border and that the government would decide on a $2.5 billion dollar security project that aims to construct a number of professional military fortifications across the border next week.
As tensions rise between NATO and Russia, further attacks against influential figures and infrastructure, political interference, cyber warfare, and the importation of refugees into Europe are sure to continue. Amid Russia’s increased attacks against the West, a number of nations within NATO have opted to increase defense spending in preparation for an armed conflict with the eastern power.
Germany itself has seen relative success in this regard, with Germany’s 2024 budget set to meet the 2% goal imposed by NATO for the first time since the late 1990s amid the Cold War. This policy coincides with numerous other NATO member’s increases, with every member of NATO, excluding the United States, Croatia, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, increasing their budgets since 2014. Despite these increases, however, many NATO members still fail to meet the 2% threshold, with a significant portion of countries that have hit the quota being Eastern European nations close to Russia.