Axel Heimken/AFP
A mysterious hole was discovered in the fence of an army base.
It was said to be a plot to assassinate Germany's largest arms manufacturer.
Telephone wiretapping of high-ranking German Air Force officials.
These aren't stories ripped from a 1960s spy novel, but actual events that happened in Germany this year.
While it cannot be certain that all of these events are Moscow's fault, Germany's continued military support for Kiev has put it on high alert for possible Russian sabotage.
The raging war between Russia and Ukraine has sparked fears that Europe may be slipping into a new Cold War.
“When we think of the Cold War, we tend to think of the 1970s, when the rules of the game were established and accepted,” said Mark Galeotti, senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Security Studies and director of Mayak Intelligence.
“In some ways, we're in the early Cold War, the '50s and '60s, so it's a more raw time.”
But what would a rekindled Cold War look like for Europe's largest economy and a country once divided by the Iron Curtain?
The biggest shock came last month, when CNN reported that U.S. officials had told Germany about a Russian plot to kill the CEO of Rheinmetall, Germany's largest arms company.
The Kremlin denied the reports, but German Foreign Minister Annalena Baabock, who is seen as the second most hardline figure after cautious Chancellor Olaf Scholz, blasted Russia for “waging a hybrid war of aggression.”
I met Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papelger in February at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new ammunition factory.
Ronnie Hartman/AFP
Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papelger (left) with the German and Danish Chancellors (February)
The 61-year-old is, to use a crude word, a real “celebrity,” especially in a world where NATO countries are spending billions of dollars supplying Ukraine and strengthening their own security.
His prominent position was clear as he stood alongside Premier Scholz, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen as they plunged spades into the ground in Lower Saxony.
If the plot to assassinate him had succeeded, it would have sent shock waves through the West.
A security lapse shortly thereafter allowed spies to eavesdrop on highly classified conversations between senior German air force officials that were later broadcast on Russian television.
That a German air force brigadier general had supposedly dialed in to an unsecured line to allow a spy to make a secure call was a source of serious embarrassment for Berlin.
Alex Krauss/Bloomberg
A US military facility in Bavaria where Ukrainian forces were training with Abrams tanks was spied on.
The massive incident, even if it was an isolated one, fueled accusations that Germany has long been the “weak link” in European counterintelligence because of a fragmented federal system that values personal privacy.
A few weeks later, after two German-Russian citizens were arrested on suspicion of plotting to sabotage a U.S. military installation in Bavaria, Annalena Barbock summoned the Russian ambassador to protest, declaring that “We will not allow Putin to bring terror to Germany.”
Just last week, holes were found in the fence of a water facility serving two military bases in North Rhine-Westphalia, raising concerns that someone may be trying to poison the water supply.
Benjamin Westhoff/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
The German airbase at Cologne-Warn was closed for several hours due to “excessive water levels.”
Germany is not the only European country to be the target of apparent vandalism, but it is home to many U.S. military bases established after World War II.
Mark Galeotti believes Moscow sees Germany as a big but “soft” power, making it an ideal pressure point.
By all accounts, the biggest act of sabotage affecting Germany in recent years was the 2022 blow-up of the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline that runs under the Baltic Sea from Russia.
Speculation has been rife ever since about who ordered the attack, but in a dramatic turn of events, Germany issued an arrest warrant for the Ukrainian diving instructor.
Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that the “small” operation was privately funded but overseen from Ukraine.
Kiev rejected the report as nonsense – it has always been skeptical about whether Putin would order the destruction of his own pipeline – but the report shows that the murky world of espionage is full of twists and turns.
Danish Ministry of Defence handout
A pipeline carrying gas from Russia to the Baltic Sea could blow up in 2022
Every incident of apparent sabotage can never be immediately and definitively attributed to Russia.
In France, it was far-left activists, not Russian agents, who were accused of targeting the country's high-speed rail network on the eve of the Olympics.
And Germany also has a long history of attacks by far-left extremists.
The fact that Ukrainian figures have been thrust into the spotlight in the Nord Stream explosion has sparked new criticism from well-known political groups in Germany about the government's support for Kiev.
Alice Weidel, co-chair of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, has called for an end to “aid payments” to Kiev and for Ukraine to “claim” for damages to Nord Stream.
The AfD has plenty of support in the former communist eastern bloc, but outside Berlin it is more likely to be fuelled by a deep attachment to Russia and dissatisfaction with the mainstream parties that have dominated national politics since unification.
As comparisons to the Cold War emerge in European security, the politics of that era are resurfacing in Germany in a completely unexpected way.
The German government is working on new legislation aimed at making critical infrastructure more durable to improve safety.
“We need to take maximum protective measures in all areas,” German Interior Minister Nancy Faser said.
Under the Critis Omnibus Law, operators in critical sectors such as energy, transport and water must comply with minimum security standards.
This is the first federal law of its kind in Germany, but it has yet to receive final approval despite rising tensions over the war.
German-made Marder armored vehicles are reportedly being used in Ukrainian raids on Russian territory.
Roman Chop/Global Images Ukraine
Ukraine has reportedly used German-made Marder fighting vehicles on Russian territory.
This marks the breaking of yet another taboo in German foreign policy since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In addition, the US has controversial plans to deploy long-range missiles in Germany from 2026.
When Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, Chancellor Scholz promised a “Zeitenwende,” or a turning point in defense and security policy.
But supporters and critics of the government acknowledge that it will take time to reverse long-standing defense spending shortfalls and to adjust a mindset heavily influenced by Germany's dark past.
Given recent developments, one wonders how much time Berlin has left.
Mark Galeotti says the U.S. needs not only to rebuild its defenses, but also to upgrade its cybersecurity and improve its counterintelligence efforts.
“Security planning takes place over years, not weeks or months.”
