Damaged cars
Exhaust clogged, window sticks: Who is behind the Sabotage series?
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It sounds like a radical climate activist campaign: Investigators have investigated the background for a series of sabotage on cars in German cities. The trail led abroad.
According to a report by the “Spiegel”, German security authorities see traces to Russia in a sabotage series in which hundreds of cars were damaged nationwide. Accordingly, 270 vehicles in Baden-Württemberg, Berlin, Brandenburg and Bavaria were clogged exhaust pipes with building foam. The aim of the actions was to fuel hate on the Greens, the magazine reported, citing information from security circles.
At the crime scenes, the saboteurs left stickers with the slogan “Be greener!” and a photo of Federal Minister of Economics and Greens Chancellor candidate Robert Habeck. Climate activists were initially suspected.
During a police check in Schönefeld in Brandenburg, three suspects from southern Germany were found near a crime scene in December, it continued: a Serb, a Bosnian and a German. During apartment searches, the investigative authorities would then have secured several doses with construction foam as well as cell phones and laptops.
According to “Spiegel”, one of the accused stated that he and other participants were initiated by a Russian to the attacks. In a first report by the magazine, there was talk of a Russian -born Serbs as the client, which was then corrected.
According to the information, the client said the information for the sabotage campaigns through the “Viber” trade fair service. A fee of 100 euros was promised for each damaged vehicle. Several thousand euros were then paid.
In security circles, according to “Spiegel” there was talk of a targeted campaign with the intention to stir up on the Greens and their candidate for chancellor Habeck in the Bundestag election campaign. The magazine referred to warnings of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution before Russia’s possible influence on the early election on February 23.
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There was initially no official confirmation for the information from the “Spiegel”. According to the magazine, the public prosecutor Ulm, which is responsible for part of the cases, informed the magazine on request that it was to be investigated against a total of four accused due to community property damage. No information could currently be given about the background of the acts, but the investigation continued, but it said.
Green Group Vice Konstantin von Notz considered the “Spiegel” report as evidence of “how high the current threat situation is”. He confirmed warnings of the attempts of authoritarian states, “above all Russia and China”, to weaken Germany, “manipulate public discourses and to attack democratic will formation processes up to elections”. Against this background, von Notz criticized the fact that the CDU and CSU “overdue overlapping security policy legislation from the Federal Government”.
AFP
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Source: Stern

I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.