Germany German arrested in Kaliningrad on terror charges
According to its own statements, the Russian domestic intelligence service FSB has arrested a German citizen in Kaliningrad on charges of terrorism. The man in question was born in Hamburg in 1967, Russian news agencies reported.
Upon entering the Russian Baltic Sea exclave from Poland, 50 grams of liquid explosives were seized in his car.
According to the FSB, the man had received the order for the attack from a Ukrainian, also born in 1967, who also lives in Hamburg. The arrested man is also suspected of having already carried out an explosives attack on a gas distribution station in the Kaliningrad region in March of this year.
When he re-entered the country, he again intended to damage Russian energy facilities. He has been remanded in custody on charges of terrorism and smuggling explosives. Possible participants are being sought. However, there was no independent confirmation of these accusations by the Russian secret service.
Repeated arrests of foreigners in Russia
The Federal Foreign Office in Berlin did not comment initially. It said that it was keeping itself informed about the case. Of the German representations in Russia, the Consulate General in St. Petersburg is responsible for the Kaliningrad region.
In the deep conflict between Moscow and the West over the war of aggression against Ukraine, foreigners are repeatedly arrested in Russia on more or less valid charges. It often seems as if they are being used as bargaining chips for a possible exchange. During a major prisoner exchange at the beginning of August, a man from Hamburg who had been arrested with hash gummy bears at St. Petersburg airport was also released. However, the accusation of terrorism is much more serious.
The Ukrainian secret services have already carried out several attacks or acts of sabotage in Russia during the war or had them carried out by recruited accomplices.
The Russian exclave of Kaliningrad is located on the Baltic Sea between Poland and Lithuania. It is the northern half of the former German province of East Prussia, which fell to the Soviet Union after the Second World War.
SDA
