Estonian defence minister says Russia's FSB may be behind explosions at Diehl defence plant in Germany
Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur considers the theory of Russia's involvement in the explosions at a military production facility in Germany to be highly plausible.
Source: Pevkur during a discussion at the GLOBSEC conference in Prague, as reported by European Pravda
Details: The minister pointed out that Russia's hybrid attacks on NATO member states started well before the Alliance began discussing hybrid warfare.
He stated that Estonia had been facing hybrid attacks from Russia, including cyberattacks, since 2007. Initially, these were only cyberattacks, but they progressed to physical attacks and then explosions. He mentioned that there was clear evidence indicating these attacks were organised by the Russian government. He also suggested that Russia was testing the limits to see how far it could go before triggering Article 5 of NATO.
The minister believes that similar activity is taking place in other NATO countries.
"The Germans will also now investigate very thoroughly what happened in Diehl defence warehouse ... yesterday. And I would not be very surprised when we hear at the end of the day that this was orchestrated by the FSB. Because this is exactly what they do – they are targeting our defence industry," Pevkur noted.
The minister believes the main issue is the uncertainty surrounding the Alliance's response to such actions. "The question is at what moment we will say that this will go over this threshold to say that now it’s Article 5," he said.
Background:
- An explosion reportedly occurred in Germany on 30 August at the Diehl Defence plant in the German city of Troisdorf.
- In the spring of 2024, a fire erupted at one of Diehl's plants in southwestern Berlin. The blaze destroyed a technical room on the factory's ground floor, resulting in millions of dollars in damage.
- The fire was suspected to have been caused by the Russians, but the investigation found no evidence of this.
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