According to a CNN report, the American secret services foiled an assassination attempt on Rheinmetall’s CEO. Other managers from the defense industry are also said to be on the Russian hit list. The Kremlin denies the allegations.
Armin Papperger, CEO of Rheinmetall, at a conference for the reconstruction of Ukraine in June.
German and American intelligence services have apparently foiled an assassination attempt on the CEO of the German arms company Rheinmetall. As the CNN news channel reported on Thursday, the Russian government planned an attack on Armin Papperger. The 61-year-old has been CEO of the Düsseldorf-listed company since January 2013.
According to a CNN investigation, one of the American intelligence or secret services learned about Russian plans for an assassination plot at the beginning of the year and warned the German government. The report does not say which American service was involved.
The plot was part of a series of Russian assassination plans against executives of European defense companies, CNN reports. The attack on Papperger is said to have been the most sophisticated. CNN and beyond have learned nothing about the circumstances under which the attack on Papperger was thwarted. CNN only says that German security forces were able to protect the Rheinmetall boss and prevent the plan.
Rheinmetall did not want to comment on the plan when asked by the NZZ. It was stated in principle that “one cannot comment” on matters related to corporate security. “Necessary measures” are always taken in cooperation with the security authorities.
The Kremlin denied CNN’s investigations on Friday. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in Moscow that it was very difficult to comment on such rumours, which were based only on unsubstantiated anonymous sources. He said: “Such reports cannot be taken seriously.”
War in Ukraine brought record numbers in Rheinmetall
Rheinmetall’s sales and profits have increased significantly since Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Last year, sales amounted to 7.2 billion euros. Profits rose from 469 million euros in 2022 to 535 million euros in 2023. A few days after the war broke out, Papperger offered the federal government to deliver a large number of tanks and other equipment to Ukraine within a short period of time. All Germany has to do is provide the necessary money. In doing so, Papperger put the political decision-makers in Berlin in particular under enormous pressure.
In the meantime, however, Rheinmetall has assured delivery. The company ramped up production of ammunition for the Gepard anti-aircraft gun tank in a relatively short period of time. This was essentially discontinued as the Bundeswehr had already decommissioned this tank. In Ukraine, the Cheetah is a valuable and effective weapon, especially against Russian drones.
Rheinmetall also plays an important role in the delivery of older Marder infantry fighting vehicles and Leopard 1 main battle tanks. The company reprocesses them and maintains several repair facilities for damaged tanks and other equipment in Ukraine.
Artillery shells are a thorn in the Russian side
For Russia, however, Rheinmetall’s other products are a much bigger problem. At the beginning of the year, Papperger, together with Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, broke ground for a new ammunition plant in Unterlüss, Lower Saxony. Starting next year, 155 high-quality artillery shells will be produced there on a larger scale. Rheinmetall is already producing these grenades today. But because the Bundeswehr has only purchased small quantities over the past few decades, Rheinmetall has significantly reduced its capacity.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius visit Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger in the emerging German plant.
Rheinmetall also announced that it will build tanks and combat vehicles in Ukraine together with the state arms company Ukroboronprom. Papperger has traveled to Ukraine several times since the Russian attack and met there, among others, with President Volodimir Selensky. At times it seemed that the head of Rheinmetall was pursuing a kind of parallelism to Germany’s arms export and foreign policy. In interviews, he repeatedly urged the government in Berlin to step up and get more money to buy weapons and military equipment.
Extensive Russian plans
If the CNN report is correct, the plans would fit in with Russia’s actions in Germany and the western support states of Ukraine. Putin’s regime has waged a covert war in Moscow for a long time – especially in Germany. In mid-April, two German Russians were arrested who were said to have spied for the Kremlin and planned sabotage and attacks. Security experts also linked the fire at the Diehl factory in Berlin, the failure of Deutsche Bahn signal boxes and an arson attack on an electricity pylon at the Tesla factory in Grünheide to Russia’s hybrid warfare in Germany.
Diehl produces anti-aircraft systems such as Iris-T, used in Ukraine. The railway and other companies transport weapons and equipment for Ukraine to Poland. And loss of production in Grünheide cost Tesla millions. The main shareholder of Tesla, Elon Musk, is providing a communication network for the Ukrainian army with his SpaceX satellites and Starlink antennas.
USA on alert about Russia’s acts of sabotage
“We see sabotage, we see assassination plots, we see arson. We see things that cost human lives,” a senior NATO official told CNN. “I firmly believe that we are dealing with a campaign of secret Russian sabotage activities that have strategic consequences.”
Last week, for example, the US armed forces put their bases in Europe on heightened alert for the first time in many years. According to CNN, the reason was evidence of acts of sabotage and attacks on American military personnel that were said to be orchestrated from Moscow. In March, several men were indicted in London on charges of setting fire to a warehouse said to have stored equipment destined for Ukraine. Several suspects said to be linked to the Russian regime have also been arrested in Poland and France in recent weeks.
The question is whether such acts still belong to hybrid warfare and are therefore subliminal or whether they are already concrete acts of war. In this case, NATO could declare an alliance.