German intelligence: Russian sabotage almost caused plane crash

An act of sabotage believed to be linked to Russia came close to causing a plane crash in Germany this year, intelligence services warned on Monday.

The incident in July saw a package catch fire at a DHL logistics centre in the eastern city of Leipzig, setting a cargo container alight.

Thomas Haldenwang, the head of the domestic intelligence agency (BfV), told lawmakers in a public session of a parliamentary oversight committee that only a lucky coincidence had prevented the package from bursting into flame while aboard a plane.

The package, which arrived in Germany from the Baltic region, is believed to have remained in the cargo centre after the flight it was due to travel on was delayed, dpa has learned.

Haldenwang and other intelligence heads, said Russian President Vladimir Putin had long marked out Germany as an enemy of Russia.

The annual session in Germany's lower house, the Bundestag, was attended by leaders of the country's three intelligence services: the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), the Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD) and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV).

All three warned of a spike in Russian espionage, with Haldenwang saying that the agencies had "observed aggressive acts from Russian intelligence services." Russian espionage and sabotage efforts had risen "both quantitatively and qualitatively," he said.

Bruno Kahl from the BND, which is responsible for foreign intelligence, said "the Kremlin saw the West, including Germany, as an opponent," and Russia would by the end of the decade be in position to make an attack on the West.

"Putin will test Western red lines," Kahl predicted, calling for unity and more defence capabilities. Moscow would seek to divide NATO before any open military conflict, he said.

Kahl also highlighted restrictions on the activities of the German intelligence services. The BND needed "considerably more operative leeway" to fulfil its task, he said.

MAD President Martina Rosenberg reported concerns that foreign agencies were attempting to spy on the Bundeswehr, Germany's armed forces, seeking to "uncover weapons deliveries to Ukraine, training plans or armament projects, or to instil a sense of insecurity through acts of sabotage."

Haldenwang described pressure being applied by other governments on dissidents and opponents in Germany, mentioning China, Turkey and Iran.

In the cases of Russia and China, it was sufficient "to expressive differing opinions to be noticed," he said.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was using people linked to organized crime groups to spy on Jews, Israelis and Iranians opposed to the Tehran government, he said.

While right-wing extremism currently posed the greatest threat to German democracy, the greatest threat to domestic security came from Islamist terrorism, Haldenwang said.

The Salafi jihadist group Islamic State – Khorasan Province was the main organization working to radicalize young activists to act on their own. The group was making use of social media services such as TikTok and Telegram to get its propaganda across, he said.

The current war in the Middle East served to energize this process, Haldenwang said. His agency had managed to take suspected terrorists out of action in advance in numerous cases, he said. "These cases cannot in any case be counted on one hand," the domestic intelligence agency president said.

The parliamentary oversight panel's sessions are usually held behind closed doors, but public sessions are organized once a year.