2024-07-18 11:15:28
Weapons company
In the Kremlin’s sights? Rheinmetall boss needs protection
Updated on 12.07.2024Reading time: 3 min.
Whether tanks, ammunition or air defense: Rheinmetall supplies extensive military goods to Ukraine. This is causing discontent in Moscow. Will the discontent go so far that the Kremlin wants to get rid of the company’s boss?
According to a media report, his commitment to Ukraine has put the head of Germany’s largest arms company Rheinmetall, Armin Papperger, in Moscow’s crosshairs. As CNN reports, US intelligence services uncovered plans by the Russian government to murder the German manager at the beginning of the year. According to informed sources, he has had “massive personal protection” for months. The Kremlin denied the alleged attack plans.
At a public appearance in Düsseldorf in May, Papperger was accompanied by several plainclothes police officers, and police cars and patrol officers were parked outside the door. The authorities provided “a high level of security around my person,” the 61-year-old told the Financial Times after the CNN report on the alleged Russian plans became known. He always feels safe, and is “a very lucky man.”
Papperger plays a special role in the German arms industry. On the one hand, his company is by far the number 1 domestic arms manufacturer, and on the other hand, he presents himself very differently from other arms managers: While his colleagues in the industry tend to avoid the media spotlight or only rarely use it, the 61-year-old repeatedly and purposefully puts himself in the media spotlight and gives interviews.
He always patiently explains how important military equipment is for defending Western values and that his company wants to make its contribution to this. He was recently asked what his greatest success was in the past fiscal year. “The greatest success for me was how much we were able to help Ukraine,” said Papperger. “These people are fighting with their blood for the freedom of Europe.” Rheinmetall was able to deliver “extremely much” to Ukraine. Such statements make it clear that Rheinmetall may well be a thorn in the side of the Kremlin.
The list of military equipment from Rheinmetall that was purchased by the German government and then sent to Ukraine is long. These include tanks, anti-aircraft guns and, above all, the immensely important artillery ammunition. In June, Rheinmetall opened a repair workshop for infantry fighting vehicles in western Ukraine. There are also plans to produce tanks locally in the country attacked by Russia.
In the ammunition division, Rheinmetall has greatly expanded its production capacity; the company is the largest manufacturer of artillery ammunition in the Western world. Before the Ukraine war, only 70,000 rounds of 155-millimeter caliber were produced per year, but by 2027 this figure is expected to rise to 1.1 million. A large part of the current production goes to Ukraine.
As a result of the war in Ukraine, the group, which employs around 30,000 people, has full order books and sales are rising all the time. Thanks to the strong growth, the company has now landed in the top German stock market league, the DAX.
The company is now also using its full coffers for extensive sponsorship of professional sports, such as the Bundesliga football club Borussia Dortmund. This is intended to polish the company’s image and help ensure that society does not see the arms manufacturer as the black sheep of German companies, but as a supplier of products that are necessary for maintaining the security and freedom of the Western world.
If the CNN report is true, it would not be the first Russian threat Rheinmetall has faced. When Papperger made public the plan to build a tank factory in Ukraine in March 2023, Russian ex-President Dmitry Medvedev threatened to attack the facilities with Russian cruise missiles.
The Kremlin rejected the reports of alleged Russian plans to attack the Rheinmetall boss. It is very difficult to comment on such rumors, which are based solely on anonymous sources without any serious justification, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “All of this is being served up in the style of more fakes, so such reports cannot be taken seriously.”
German politicians expressed concern about the alleged attack plan, and FDP member of the Bundestag Reinhard Houben called for a special meeting of the Federal Security Council. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) said that they would not comment on “individual threats”. “But one thing is clear: we take the significantly increased threat posed by Russian aggression very seriously.” Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) said that there were repeated specific threats against people from politics and business. “It shows what kind of world we live in and how dangerous this world can be.”