Germany says it won't be intimidated by Russian threats after report on alleged assassination plot

BERLIN — The German government said Friday that it “won’t be intimidated” by Russian attempts to undermine the country’s support of Ukraine, but refused to comment on a report that Moscow planned to assassinate the chief executive of a leading defense company.

CNN reported Thursday, citing five unidentified U.S. and Western officials, that American intelligence discovered earlier this year that Russia planned to kill Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger. It said the U.S. informed Germany, whose security services were able to protect Papperger and foil the plot. Rheinmetall is a major supplier of military technology and artillery rounds for Ukraine.

Neither Rheinmetall nor the German government would comment on the report. Interior Ministry spokesperson Maximilian Kall said his ministry can’t comment on “individual threat situations,” but added that more broadly “we take the significantly increased threat from Russian aggression very seriously.”

“We know that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s regime wants above all to undermine our support for Ukraine in its defense against the Russian war of aggression, but the German government won’t be intimidated,” Kall said.

He noted that German security measures have been increased significantly since 2022, and that “the threats range from espionage and sabotage, through cyberattacks, to state terrorism.”

In April, German investigators arrested two German-Russian men on suspicion of espionage, one of them accused of agreeing to carry out attacks on potential targets including U.S. military facilities in hopes of sabotaging aid for Ukraine.

Germany has become the second-biggest supplier of weapons to Ukraine after the United States since Russia started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago.

CNN reported that the alleged Papperger plot was one of a series of Russian plans to kill defense industry executives across Europe supporting the Ukrainian war effort.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed the report. “All of this is again presented in the fake style, so such reports cannot be taken seriously,” he told reporters on Friday.