By Nico Pointner
The three men aged 22, 25 and 30 were arrested at separate locations in Germany and Switzerland in May. They are accused of having sent parcels containing car parts and GPS tracking devices from Cologne to Ukraine to test potential freight routes ahead of the planned attacks.
Federal prosecutors said the plan was to mail packages containing explosive devices set to ignite in lorries, warehouses and distribution centres “in Germany or elsewhere on their way to parts of Ukraine not occupied by Russia” to cause “as much damage as possible in order to undermine the population’s sense of security.”
Prosecutors believe the order for testing potential attack routes came from a Russian intelligence service via intermediaries in the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol, according to the charges brought at the Stuttgart court.
The case is part of a surge in sabotage attacks across Europe following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In July 2024, a package caught fire at a DHL logistics centre in the German city of Leipzig, setting a cargo container alight. Intelligence officials later said the incident, believed to be linked to Russia, came close to causing a plane crash.
With professional intelligence operations becoming more and more difficult to pull off due to Western sanctions and increased vigilance by European states, security authorities believe Moscow is increasingly relying on what is sometimes described as disposable agents.
Individuals without formal training are recruited by intelligence agencies on social media to carry out acts of sabotage in return for comparatively little payment. Reports suggest that those involved may not always be aware of the full plot.
Defendant ‘assumed he was doing friend a favour’
Two of the men were arrested in Germany, while the third was arrested in Switzerland and extradited to Germany in December, where all three have been held in pre-trial detention.
The three defendants – a mechanic, a car attendant and a media worker – remained silent at the start of the trial, with one of them repeatedly shaking his head in disbelief.
The Stuttgart court is to determine to what extent the three men aware of the sabotage plot and whether they knew that they were acting on behalf of Russian intelligence.
The defence attorney of the 25-year-old believed to have posted the packages in Cologne said there was no evidence that his client had been aware of any sabotage plans.
“My client simply assumed he was doing a favour by posting a parcel for a friend with a Ukrainian postal service,” defence lawyer Martin Heising said.
He called for the defendant’s acquittal, arguing that the fact that his client posted the parcels did not prove that he was actively involved in the sabotage plot.
The lawyers of the other two defendants did not comment on the charges on the first day of proceedings.
The court has scheduled over 30 trial dates until the end of September. Proceedings are taking place under heavy security.
