The Russian Ambassador has been summoned to the German Foreign Ministry: details of the detention of Russian agents in Bavaria who were planning sabotage

Two German citizens of Russian origin were detained and arrested on charges of sabotage activities in Bavaria.

The German Foreign Ministry officially responded to the detention of Russian agents by summoning the Russian Ambassador, writes Bild. Commenting on the detention, German law enforcement officials said: one of the suspects appeared on Wednesday before the investigating judge of the Federal Court, after which he was taken into custody, the second will appear in court on Thursday.

Spiegel magazine first reported about detention. The suspects were planning sabotage operations in Germany on the order of the Russian intelligence service, the publication writes. They were detained in Bayreuth. By order of Federal Prosecutor General Jens Rommel, they were arrested. The detainees were preparing sabotage against facilities used for transporting military equipment, Der Spiegel and ARD reported on Thursday, April 18.

How reported our publication, the main accused is 39-year-old Dieter S. with Russian-German citizenship from Bavaria. Investigators are convinced that since October 2023 he has been communicating with contact persons from the Russian special services regarding sabotage operations in Germany. It is alleged that he agreed to commit arson and bombings of military infrastructure, weapons factories and industrial facilities.

The focus was, in particular, on transport routes used to transport military cargo. The purpose of the planned attacks was to undermine German support for Ukraine. Federal prosecutors accuse him, among other things, of acting as an agent on behalf of intelligence services for the purpose of sabotage, as well as creating photographs of military installations that “pose a security threat.”

Dieter S. is already known to the German security authorities. Between 2014 and 2016, he belonged to the militants of the so-called DPR. It is classified by German justice as a terrorist organization, so Dieter S. is also accused of membership in a terrorist organization abroad. ARD notes:

“This is an innovation, because in this way the Donetsk People's Republic becomes a terrorist association. German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann issued permission for the corresponding prosecution. This step has great symbolic significance and may have diplomatic consequences.”

Because he owned firearms, federal prosecutors also opened an investigation against him on suspicion of preparing a violent act threatening the state.

Dieter S.'s accomplice is 37-year-old Alexander J., also of Russian-German origin, whom the federal prosecutor's office accuses of being an agent of Russian intelligence.

How reports DW, one of the sites the detainees spied on, is located in Grafenwoehr in Bavaria. There is an important military training ground there where the US Army trains the Ukrainian military, for example, on Abrams battle tanks.

Dieter S. also studied and photographed US military installations in Germany, and he sent the photographs to Russian customers. In this, the prosecutor's office claims, he was helped by a second detainee in Bayreuth since March 2024. The men collected information, in particular, about US military installations at the Grafenwoehr training ground.

The men were monitored for several months. Searches took place at the workplaces and homes of the suspects. Both suspects face up to 10 years in prison in Germany.

After news of the arrest of two suspects became known, the German Foreign Ministry summoned Russian Ambassador Sergei Nechaev to give an explanation, AFP and the Bild newspaper reported. Kremlin official Dmitry Peskov refused to comment on the situation: “I just can’t [прокомментировать]I don’t have any information on this matter,” quotes Peskov Air Force.

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