Russia started Berlin factory fire as part of hybrid war on Europe, report says

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Russian saboteurs trying to disrupt shipments of critical arms and ammunition to Ukraine set fire to a metal factory belonging to defense manufacturer Diehl in Berlin, Western security officials said.

Western intelligence agencies, including in Germany, have increasingly warned of espionage and sabotage threats by foreign adversaries such as Russia. The alleged arson attack at the beginning of May could be the latest in a series of such incidents, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed security officials.

"Russia is testing the limits of Article 5 to stir up uncertainty," Roderich Kiesewetter, a politician from Germany’s Christian Democrats, told POLITICO, referring to the obligation of each NATO member country to come to each other’s defense if they are attacked.

"It has long been clear that Russia is waging a hybrid war against European countries, including Germany," he added.

German police said the investigation was still ongoing and that, "At this stage, a technical defect is assumed to be the cause of the fire."

Thomas Hör, CEO of Diehl Metal Applications, told Berlin broadcaster RBB last week that a fire insurance company had come to the same conclusion.

But according to the WSJ, experienced professionals were behind the fire. Russia is increasingly recruiting civilians, predominantly criminals, via Telegram to carry out such attacks, a security official was cited as saying. These people are paid in cryptocurrency and some might not even be aware they are working for Russia, the report said.

“This is like the gig economy for sabotage and terror — perpetrators get recruited like Uber drivers, but the effect is often the same as with using professionals,” the WSJ cited an unnamed senior Western security official as saying.

German tabloid Bild last week reported that a foreign intelligence service had informed the German secret services about concrete indications of Russia being involved in the outbreak of the factory fire.

But communications intercepts which provided evidence of Russia’s involvement weren’t admissible in German courts, two German officials were quoted as saying to the WSJ, which prevented authorities from clearly attributing the attack and pursuing criminal charges.

The fire broke out in early May and caused, according to the company, tens of millions of euros of damage. More than 200 firefighters were on site over several days to extinguish the blaze, but a technical room on the second floor of a factory building burned to the ground, RBB reported.

Source: https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-berlin-fire-diehl-behind-arson-attack-on-factory/