But people accused of being Russian operatives have also been arrested on charges of plotting attacks on U.S. military bases.
Is this the Polish airport where aid to Ukraine has been being sent in?
kagis
Nope, that was apparently a different group. This is in Germany.
Investigators have arrested two German-Russian men on suspicion of spying for Russia and planning attacks in Germany — including on U.S. army targets — to undermine military support for Ukraine, prosecutors said Thursday.
The pair, identified only as Dieter S. and Alexander J., were arrested in Bayreuth in the southeastern state of Bavaria on Wednesday, federal prosecutors said in a statement.
The main accused, Dieter S., is alleged to have scouted potential targets for attacks, “including facilities of the U.S. armed forces” stationed in Germany.
Russia’s ambassador to Berlin was summoned by the foreign ministry following the arrests.
The accused allegedly expressed readiness to “commit explosive and arson attacks mainly on military infrastructure and industrial sites in Germany.”
Dieter S. collected information about potential targets, “including facilities of the U.S. armed forces.”
Der Spiegel magazine reported that the military facilities spied on included the U.S. army base in Grafenwoehr in Bavaria.
“Among other things, there is an important military training area there where the U.S. army trains Ukrainian soldiers, for example on Abrams battle tanks,” Der Spiegel wrote.
I have a hard time believing that, had they successfully pulled it off, that any disruption to the Ukrainian training effort wouldn’t have been dramatically outweighed by negative repercussions for Russia.
Not to mention bombing defense industry targets in Germany. Even if you hit something really important for Ukraine, like Rheinmetall’s shell production for the Gepards or IRIS-T…you just disrupted some deliveries, yes, but you also just blew up a German defense factory. That’s going to have very real repercussions, and “we hired someone to do it, wasn’t us” isn’t gonna fly.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Tom_explosion
The Black Tom explosion was an act of sabotage by agents of the German Empire, to destroy U.S.-made munitions that were to be supplied to the Allies in World War I. The explosions, which occurred on July 30, 1916, in New York Harbor, killed at least four people and destroyed some $20,000,000 ($560 million in 2024 dollars) worth of military goods. This incident, which happened prior to U.S. entry into World War I, also damaged the Statue of Liberty. It was one of the largest artificial non-nuclear explosions in history.
Black Tom was a major munitions depot for the northeastern United States. Until April 6, 1917, the United States was neutral in respect to World War I and its munitions companies earlier in the war could sell to any buyer. Due to the blockade of Germany by the Royal Navy, however, only the Allied Governments were able to purchase American munitions. As a result, Imperial Germany sent spies to the United States to disrupt by any means necessary the production and delivery of war munitions that were intended to kill German soldiers on the battlefields of the Great War.
This attack was one of many during the German sabotage campaign against the neutral United States, and it is notable for its contribution to the shift of public opinion against Germany, which eventually resulted in American approval for participating with World War I.
Were deliveries disrupted? Yes. Was it worth the political cost? Probably not.
I doubt that Russia blowing up facilities in the EU is going to go over a whole lot better. Things could be a whole lot worse than they are for Russia WRT Western involvement than they are now.
EDIT: I mean, beyond blowing up that Czech arms depot a while back.
How did the Russian rhetoric go about escalations? How is this not an escalation?
BiDenGeNoSiDE!/11
what, too soon?
