Germany faces wave of sabotage attacks on critical infrastructure amid rising tensions with Russia

On Tuesday morning, unknown perpetrators attempted to attack the power supply near the coal-fired power plant at Jänschwalde in the eastern state of Brandenburg, partly succeeding in their objective. Then, later the same evening, a substation near Cologne suffered a disruption in what is believed to have been an act of sabotage.

On Wednesday, an explosion occurred near the railway station in the Bavarian city of Augsburg, caused by a hand grenade, according to investigators.

In the early hours of Thursday, several incendiary devices were thrown onto a construction site in Munich, close to a number of defense companies. Then, on Thursday evening, a suspicious object was discovered at a power substation in Dormagen, between Cologne and Düsseldorf. Investigators say a claim of responsibility has since been received.

While it remains entirely unclear who was behind the attacks in Jänschwalde, Cologne and Augsburg, investigators in Munich have arrested at least two suspects, reportedly Bulgarian nationals.

Already 160 attacks on critical infrastructure this year

What all these incidents have in common is that they appear to have targeted so-called critical infrastructure: energy facilities, the rail network, companies of strategic importance to national security and defense contractors.

Taken together, these sites can hardly be protected in their entirety. According to media reports citing an internal document, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) has recorded 160 potential acts of sabotage and more than 700 suspicious drone sightings so far this year.

People in Berlin express concern over Russia

Even if the exact circumstances of each incident remain unclear, their rapid succession has created a growing sense of constant threat among the public. To find out how people are reacting, DW spoke to residents on the streets of Berlin.

One woman described her immediate reaction: "Fear. I was just talking about it with a colleague. It makes me feel very uneasy. I think about it a lot, and yet no one really talks about it. Maybe it's because people are afraid and would rather push it out of their minds?"

One man added: "We first need to recognize that something is happening, that we are under attack. I have very close ties to Russia and very close Russian friends, and it is very, very painful to see what is happening."

A freeze in German-Russian relations

The fact that Russia is the first thing that comes to many people's minds when they hear about the recent wave of attacks is hardly surprising. On Tuesday, Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt of Bavaria's conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) and Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), both members of the governing alliance with the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), appeared before the press. They announced that the German government is convinced Russian actors were behind the attempted drone attack on Halle/Leipzig Airport on August 4.

The government responded by closing Russia's consulate general in Bonn and ending the lease on the Russian House in Berlin. Moscow, in turn, retaliated by shutting down the Goethe-Institut in Moscow. Relations between Germany and Russia are now at their lowest point in years.

"We are no longer at peace, but neither are we at war," Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) remarked last year.

The reality is that since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in the spring of 2022, Germany has been among Ukraine's strongest supporters, both financially and militarily. That holds true even though successive German governments, including the current one, have consistently maintained that the country is not itself a party to the war.

Germany's support for Ukraine as a motive?

Since then, the Bundeswehr, after years of continuous downsizing, has undergone rapid rearmament, driven in part by concerns that Russia could pose a threat even to central Europe.

Neither at war nor at peace: Sönke Marahrens, a colonel in the German armed forces and a security expert at Kiel University, believes Germans would be well advised to prepare for this new form of confrontation, whoever may be responsible for it.

He told DW: "Hybrid warfare and hybrid activities are, in my view, essentially the same thing because they rely on the same methods. Foreign states or organizations pursue their strategic interests without resorting to diplomacy. This can take the form of sabotage, disinformation or attacks on critical infrastructure."

At the same time, the researcher stresses that it would be difficult to describe the situation as a state of war.

Private firms urged to strengthen infrastructure security

But it would be too simplistic to attribute every such incident immediately and unequivocally to Russia. Earlier this year, for example, an attack on a cable bridge in southwest Berlin caused a power outage that lasted several days. Hundreds of thousands of people were affected in freezing temperatures. In that case, which remains unsolved, suspicion has fallen on far-left extremists.

A debate has long been underway in Germany over how best to prepare for such attacks in the future. This spring, the government passed legislation known as "KRITIS," aimed at strengthening the protection of critical infrastructure, although the law has yet to enter into force.

Herbert Reul (CDU), the interior minister of the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, noted in an interview with public broadcaster ZDF that critical facilities, including those operated by private companies, can already be monitored through video surveillance. Responsibility for securing the surrounding areas, however, lies with authorities such as the police.

As Reul put it: "In Germany, we are sensitive when it comes to video surveillance and, more generally, to measures that affect civil liberties or data protection."

Reul argued that companies themselves need to invest more in protecting their facilities. The German Police Union (DPolG) takes a similar view. Its chairman, Heiko Teggatz, said that safeguarding critical infrastructure is not primarily the responsibility of the police, but first and foremost of the operators themselves.

"Those responsible for the security of their facilities must also invest in their protection," Teggatz said.

What is lacking, he argued, is not technical capability but a consistent willingness to invest.

This article was translated from German.