The Kremlin has categorically dismissed reports of a Russian plot to murder a high-ranking executive of a German weapons manufacturing company, claiming there was “no credible argument” to support the allegations.
US network CNN reported on Thursday that the United States and Germany had earlier this year thwarted a planned assassination, ostensibly orchestrated by Russia, targeting the CEO of a major German arms manufacturer who has been supplying weapons to Ukraine.
Citing five unidentified American and Western officials, CNN reported that Washington had informed Berlin of the planned assault on Armin Papperger, the boss of German industrial group Rheinmetall, and that German security services had provided him with protection.
CNN’s report suggested that this plot was part of a series of Russian schemes uncovered by American intelligence aimed at killing executives in the European defence industry supporting the Ukrainian war effort against Russia.
Rheinmetall, according to CNN, manufactures 155mm artillery shells and plans to start producing armoured vehicles in Ukraine.
Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, accused Russia on Thursday of waging “a hybrid war of aggression” against the West, involving “sabotage, cyber-attacks” and “attacks on people” and “factories.”
“This once again shows that we Europeans need to protect ourselves better and not be naive,” she noted
The German Interior Ministry declined to comment directly on the Rheinmetall situation, but said the German government takes “the threats from the Russian regime very seriously.”
Rheinmetall’s spokesperson, Oliver Hoffmann, said the company was “unable to comment on matters relating to [its] security.”
