Russian secret service: Terrorism accusation: German arrested in Kaliningrad

The Russian domestic secret service FSB says it has arrested a German citizen in Kaliningrad on charges of terrorism. Russian news agencies reported that it was a man from Hamburg who was born in 1967. When he entered the Russian Baltic Sea exclave from Poland, 50 grams of liquid explosives were seized in his car. According to the Foreign Office in Berlin, the man was arrested in October.

The FSB said the man received the order for an attack from a Ukrainian, also born in 1967, who also lives in Hamburg. The arrested man is also suspected of having carried out an explosive attack on a gas distribution station in the Kaliningrad region in March of this year.

When he re-entered the country, he again intended to damage Russian energy facilities. He was taken into custody on charges of terrorism and smuggling explosives. We are looking for possible participants. However, there was no independent confirmation of these allegations from the Russian secret service.

AA: Low double-digit number of Germans imprisoned in Russia

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said in Berlin that the German Consulate General in Saint Petersburg had offered consular assistance to the detainee and was in contact with the Russian authorities. The man only has German citizenship and is not a dual citizen.

Overall, the German Foreign Ministry is aware of a low double-digit number of people with German citizenship who are currently imprisoned in Russia. The spokeswoman did not want to provide any details about the people or the reasons for their detention due to privacy concerns.

Basically, the AA spokeswoman emphasized that there is an atmosphere of intimidation and fear in Russia, in which arbitrary arrests of foreign nationals can also occur. For this reason, too, the Federal Foreign Office strongly advises against traveling to Russia.

Russia keeps arresting foreigners

In the deep conflict between Moscow and the West over the war of aggression against Ukraine, foreigners are repeatedly being arrested in Russia on more or less valid charges. It often seems as if they were intended to serve as a bargaining chip for a possible exchange. During a large prisoner exchange at the beginning of August, a man from Hamburg who had been arrested with hash gummy bears at St. Petersburg airport was also released. However, the accusation of terrorism is much more serious.

The Ukrainian secret services have already carried out several attacks or acts of sabotage in Russia during the war or had them carried out using recruited accomplices.