Germany suspects Russia of fire at Diehl plant

Russian sabotage groups are suspected of setting fire to a metal plant in Berlin of Diehl, a company that helps Ukraine with air defense.

Security sources told The Wall Street Journal that the Russians were trying to disrupt the supply of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine in this way.

The fire broke out in early May and caused tens of millions of euros in damage, according to the company.

More than 200 firefighters worked for several days to extinguish the fire, but the technical room on the second floor of the plant burned to the ground.

Anonymous security officials told journalists that the May arson attack might have been part of Russian sabotage.

Officially, the German police reported that the investigation was still ongoing.

“At this stage, it is assumed that a technical defect was the cause of the fire,” the police said.

Thomas Hör, CEO of Diehl Metal Applications, said last week that the fire insurance company had come to the same conclusion. However, German security authorities suspect that experienced professionals were behind the fire.

“Russia is increasingly recruiting civilians, mostly criminals, via Telegram to carry out such attacks,” a security official told the newspaper.

These people receive money in cryptocurrency, and some may not even know that they are working for Russia, sources tell the Wall Street Journal.

“It is similar to the economy of part-time jobs for sabotage and terror: criminals are recruited like Uber drivers, but the effect is often the same as with the use of professionals,” the sources say.

As previously reported, the German company Diehl manufactures IRIS-T air defense systems, which are already in service in Ukraine. In early June, the company said that it planned to produce 10 IRIS-T systems a year.