German investigators suspect Russian military intelligence organized an arson attack near defense firms in Munich
German investigators believe the Main Directorate of the General Staff of Russia’s Armed Forces, or GRU, was behind a September 3 attack on defense companies in Munich, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported.
On the night of September 2–3, incendiary devices were thrown from a passing car at a construction site near the Munich headquarters of defense companies Rohde & Schwarz and Helsing.
One device ignited near containers at the site. No one was injured. Police soon detained two suspects: a 28-year-old woman and a 38-year-old Bulgarian man. German investigators believe the GRU recruited them.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that, at the time of the Munich attack, the GRU was also preparing an attack on a factory run by Ukrainian drone maker Skyeton in the Slovak village of Haniska. In late August, Slovak prosecutors said someone had tried to set the factory on fire. Three people have been detained in the case: two Latvian citizens and a Ukrainian citizen.
German intelligence agencies believe a special GRU unit, the Department of Special Tasks, is behind acts of sabotage across Europe. In February 2025, The Wall Street Journal reported on the unit’s creation. Western intelligence agencies believe its mission includes carrying out assassinations and sabotage abroad, infiltrating Western companies and universities, and recruiting and training foreign agents.
In August, a drone with explosives attached was found at Leipzig Airport, near a Ukrainian An-124 cargo plane carrying ammunition. It later emerged that there were several drones. On September 1, German authorities formally accused Russia of attempting sabotage at the airport. Moscow denies the allegations.
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