German shock at reported Russian assassination plot

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German political figures have reacted angrily to a report that Russia had plotted to kill the head of Germany's biggest arms company Rheinmetall, Armin Papperger.The CNN report said US officials had told their counterparts in Berlin earlier this year and security around him was stepped up.Germany's interior ministry refused to comment but Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock appeared to confirm the details.

Last month, it signed an agreement with Ukraine to expand co-operation in the coming years, including a joint venture to produce artillery shells.Mr Papperger said at the time his company wanted to hand over the first Lynx infantry fighting vehicles later this year and to start producing them in Ukraine soon.Although Chancellor Olaf Scholz avoided commenting on the reported assassination plot directly, he said it was well known that Germany was exposed to a variety of Russian threats and was paying close attention to them.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said "we are taking very seriously the significantly heightened threat of Russian aggression".Earlier this week, a senior Nato official told the BBC that Russia was "engaging in aggressive covert operations across Europe – involving sabotage, arson and assassination plots – aimed at weakening public support for Ukraine".The German foreign minister said the Baltic states had already highlighted the various methods deployed by Russia's Vladimir Putin in his war on Ukraine.

"We have seen that there have been attacks on factories, and that again underlines that, together, we as Europeans must protect ourselves as best we can and not be naive," Ms Baerbock told reporters.In early May, a building complex owned by the Diehl Metall firm went up in flames in south-west Berlin.

Last April, Mr Papperger's garden house was set alight at Hermannsburg in northern Germany, although there has been no evidence of a Russian link.The fire was quickly brought under control and a rambling, anonymous confession purportedly from leftist militants appeared on activist network Indymedia.

The head of the defence committee, Marcus Faber, added his condemnation, saying if information about Russian intelligence involvement came to light, then "the expulsion of diplomats must follow and, if necessary, international arrest warrants must be issued".

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