Foreign powers including Russia and China are actively recruiting agents in the private sector to carry out sabotage in Germany, intelligence officials warned.
At an annual security conference in Berlin, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) – Germany’s domestic intelligence agency – warned that authorities and businesses must be equipped to ward off acts of sabotage and espionage.
BfV Vice President Sinan Selen said Moscow and Beijing are increasingly commissioning private actors to achieve their goals, instead of relying on security forces, state media and diplomacy.
Selen highlighted several examples of suspected sabotage in Europe in recent months, including an incident on a German warship, arson attacks in Lithuania and Poland, and a series of explosions of incendiary devices in packages.
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The inspector general of the Bundeswehr – Germany’s military – Carsten Breuer warned that Russia will be in a position to attack NATO territory in four to seven years.
Germany cannot bury its head in the sand while Russia steps up its production of tanks and ammunition, he argued.
Hybrid Warfare – the coordinated efforts of Russia and China against the West – (January 2025)
Russia and China are conducting hybrid warfare campaigns against Western nations, leveraging a blend of conventional military assets and non-military tactics, including cyberattacks, disinformation, economic pressure, and exploitation of political and legal systems. These efforts aim to destabilise and weaken adversaries from within.
Russia has been intensifying its sabotage campaigns across the EU, reflecting a significant escalation in hybrid hostilities […]
China, while maintaining a more covert stance, has recently begun to employ economic coercion, bribery and corruption, along with significant lending and advancements in technology and logistics to influence political parties, subtly but effectively. By integrating itself within essential global supply chains and controlling information through technology, China exerts a soft but potent form of political influence, aimed at swaying the economic and political decisions of target countries […]