How safe are the Ukrainian refugees in Germany? The Federal Chairman of the German Police Union (DPolG), Rainer Wendt, calls for better protection for facilities in which the refugees are housed. “We need an ongoing risk assessment for these people and their accommodations,” Wendt told the Berliner Zeitung.
“We learned with great pain that Russian nationalists and secret services have no qualms about killing on German soil,” he said, referring to the murder in Kleiner Tiergarten. In August 2019, a convicted agent of the Russian secret service FSB shot a Georgian in the green area in Moabit. “The risk situation for the refugees is abstract, but we don’t want it to become concrete,” said Wendt.
According to the Berlin Senate, it is preparing to take in at least 20,000 refugees from Ukraine. They are currently accommodated in accommodations in Pankow and Lichtenberg. According to the social administration, other objects will be checked. These objects are currently secured, if at all, by private security companies.
Critical infrastructure facilities are also at risk
Wendt sees further security problems in Germany because of the Ukraine war. In this way, the Federal Republic could become the target of terrorist attacks. Critical infrastructure facilities could be destroyed or damaged. In the past there have always been attacks on the IT systems of various institutions or industries.
“We have become much better at protecting IT than we were a few years ago. The Federal Office for Information Security has increased significantly and got many experts,” said Wendt. “But the authorities and above all the companies still have a lot to do themselves.” The topic of cyber security also plays a role in Berlin. The state’s own IT service center has set up a “24/7 service” to increase security in the network of authorities, said Berlin’s governing mayor, Franziska Giffey (SPD).
The federal chairman of the competing police union (GdP), Oliver Malchow, warns that conflicts between sympathizers of both groups in the Federal Republic will erupt. This also included attacks on representative offices and official institutions in both countries, he told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung.
Last Thursday, the Berlin police increased protection for a total of 39 properties belonging to diplomatic institutions in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Nevertheless, one man managed to smear the Belarusian embassy in Treptow and hang banners on the fence.