Russian parcel bomb plot thwarted
Three Ukrainians have been arrested in Germany and Switzerland on suspicion of planning sabotage attacks with parcel bombs on behalf of Russia.
German prosecutors believe that the three male suspects were part of a plot to send explosive devices to their targets via the postal service.
According to Der Spiegel magazine, Ukrainian suspects Vladyslav T, Daniil B, and Yevhen B are facing charges of 'agent activity for the purpose of sabotage'.
The three male suspects were arrested during police raids in the German cities of Konstanz and Cologne over the weekend, as well as in Switzerland on Tuesday.
The full details of the apparent sabotage plot in Germany were not immediately clear, but the trio is said to have carried out test runs sending parcels fitted with GPS devices to Ukraine via addresses in Konstanz and Cologne.
This appears to have been part of a scouting exercise to test transport routes, reported Spiegel, which said that German authorities 'presume' the plot was ordered by Moscow.
Germany is at the centre of a so-called hybrid war campaign being waged by Russia, which targets key infrastructure such as military sites and factories in revenge for the West's support of Ukraine.
Russia is already suspected of ordering sabotage attacks on a factory owned by an arms firm in Berlin, a US military site in Bavaria and a logistics hub in Leipzig.
In the most serious case of sabotage, a fire broke out at Leipzig airport inside a container that was due to be loaded onto a DHL cargo plane. Similar fires, caused by firebomb parcels, also broke out at logistics sites in Jablonow, near Warsaw and at a DHL warehouse in Birmingham last year.
According to the BBC, Western officials suspect the fires were part of a 'test run' for a more ambitious sabotage attack on cargo flights heading to the United States.
Germany is considered a soft target for Russian saboteurs due to a large contingency of Germans who consider themselves pro-Russian, with some deeply nostalgic for the days of the Communist GDR.
The German intelligence services are also exploring a theory that a series of terror attacks committed in the run-up to last February's general elections may have been orchestrated by Moscow.
It is not the first time that Ukrainian citizens have been linked to sabotage attacks on behalf of Russia.
Last year, a Ukrainian teenager was allegedly hired by Russian agents to carry out an arson attack on a branch of Ikea in the Baltic state of Lithuania.
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