German authorities arrest three suspected Russian saboteurs

Three Ukrainian nationals have been arrested in Germany and Switzerland on suspicion of acting as agents for Russia in a plot involving parcel bombs, German prosecutors said on Wednesday.

The men are suspected of being secret agents, with the intent to sabotage, and have agreed to commit arson and cause an explosion, federal prosecutors said in a statement, the Telegraph reports.

Apparently working on the orders of people acting for Russia, the suspects planned to send packages containing explosive or incendiary devices from Germany to Ukraine, with the devices designed to detonate during the transport of the goods, according to prosecutors.

Two of the men – identified only as Vladyslav T and Daniil B in accordance with German privacy rules – were arrested in different parts of Germany on Friday and Saturday respectively.

The third man - identified as Yevhen B - was arrested on Tuesday in the northern Thurgau region of neighboring Switzerland.

The suspects are accused of telling "one or more persons suspected of acting on behalf of Russian state agencies" around March that they were prepared to carry out attacks on freight transport in Germany, prosecutors said.

The suspected plan was for the men to send packages that would explode while being transported to Ukraine.

One of the suspects – Vladyslav T – sent two “test packages” to Cologne in late March that contained GPS trackers to monitor potential means of transport, according to prosecutors.

He was allegedly tasked with this action by Yevhen B, who is accused of securing the contents of the packages through Daniil B.

Berlin has been closely monitoring the threat of sabotage plots from Moscow, following Russia's full invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Experts told Euronews that the suspected plot could be an example of hybrid warfare by Russia, which combines conventional military operations with a range of non-military tactics in an attempt to achieve its strategic objectives while providing credible denial.

“The goal is to exploit an adversary’s weaknesses in multiple areas to create uncertainty,” said Olha Danchenkova, co-founder of Ukraine-based communications agency Calibrated and PR Army, an NGO.

"These tactics include cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns, economic coercion (such as dependence on oil and gas), diplomatic pressure, arming of migrants (as in Belarus), corruption, election interference and the use of proxy forces," she told Euronews.

Ihor Solovei, head of the Ukrainian Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security, said that the arsenal of hybrid aggression includes a wide range of instruments, including disinformation.

"Here's an example: in 2022, Russia occupied Mariupol using traditional methods of warfare – artillery, armored vehicles, aviation and infantry. It was a classic military operation," he said.

"Years ago, in 2014, Russia occupied Donetsk using hybrid warfare methods. As a result of information and propaganda operations, part of the local population turned against the central government," he added. /Telegraph/