The United States foiled a Russian plot to assassinate the chief executive of a major German arms manufacturer that supplied weapons to Ukraine earlier this year, CNN reported on Thursday.
US cable television networks cited five unnamed American and Western officials as saying that the United States had informed Germany of the Russian government’s plan to kill Rheinmetall chief Armin Papperger, and that he had been given protection by German security services.
It said the assassination plot was one of a series of Russian plans to kill European defense industry executives supporting Ukraine’s war effort that were detected by US intelligence.
According to CNN, Rheinmetall produces 155mm artillery shells and plans to start building armored vehicles in Ukraine.
The CNN report comes as NATO leaders are meeting in Washington to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the defense bloc.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said: “In view of the latest reports on Rheinmetall, we have actually been saying this with greater clarity than in recent months.
“Russia is waging a hybrid aggressive war,” Baerbock said. “With sabotage, cyber attacks, disabling GPS so that Baltic planes can no longer land in neighboring countries.
“We have seen that people have been attacked in the European region,” the foreign minister said. “We have seen that factories have been attacked.
“And this emphasises once again that as Europeans we must protect ourselves as much as possible and not be naive.”
A German interior ministry spokesman declined to comment directly on the Rheinmetall report, but said “the German government takes threats from the Russian regime very seriously.”
“Our security officials are extremely vigilant and act accordingly in close cooperation with our international partners,” the spokesperson said. “We cannot comment on details, concrete security measures and intelligence findings.”
Rheinmetall spokesman Oliver Hoffmann said the company was “unable to comment on matters relating to corporate security.”
“The necessary steps are taken after regular consultation with security officials,” Hoffmann said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
