Russia suspected of trying to parcel-bomb German DHL aircraft

Investigators suspect Russian sabotage behind the fire originating from a package at the DHL airport centre last July. Photo / Getty Images

Germany narrowly avoided an aviation disaster over the summer after suspected pro-Russian saboteurs tried to sneak a parcel-bomb on a plane, it has emerged.

The targeted plane had been on the tarmac at a DHL logistics centre in Leipzig when a freight package caught fire, German newspaper Tagesspiegel reported.

By sheer coincidence the flight had been delayed, which meant that the package caught fire while the plane was still on the ground, German security officials said.

If the plane had been in the air when it had exploded it would have crashed, creating a major security incident in July that would have pushed Berlin and Moscow even closer to direct war.

Thomas Haldenwang, the head of Germany’s domestic intelligence services, disclosed the incident in a briefing to a parliamentary committee on Monday.

Ironically, he said, if the plane had crashed the debris might have fallen on to Germans who “sympathise with Vladimir Putin and his goals”.

Leipzig is in the east German state of Saxony, a region where many Germans are nostalgic for Cold War-era Russian rule and sceptical of the war in Ukraine.

Haldenwang did not explicitly name Russia as the perpetrator, but he said that sabotage efforts by Moscow’s intelligence services have stepped up “both quantitatively and qualitatively”.

The German news agency DPA said Berlin’s security service suspected a connection to Moscow. It was unclear what exactly was inside the package and to whom it was being sent.

Since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Germany has struggled with security incidents and sabotage attacks involving Russia, which is waging hybrid warfare on the West in revenge for its military support of Ukraine.

This includes the attempted sabotage of US military sites in the German state of Bavaria which work to support Ukraine and an arson attack on a key arms factory in Berlin.

Head of Germany’s domestic intelligence services Thomas Haldenwang. Photo / Getty Images

German is an ‘obvious target’ for Putin

German security chiefs say their country is an obvious target for Putin owing to its Communist past and – until recently – lax security procedures, linked to many years of underfunding.

At a Bundestag parliamentary committee, Haldenwang said: “We are observing aggressive behaviour by the Russian intelligence services [that is] putting people’s lives at risk. It affects all areas of our free society.”

At the same hearing Bruno Kahl, the head of Germany’s foreign intelligence services, warned that Putin wishes to “test the West’s red lines” on the defence of Ukraine and that there remained a high risk of the conflict escalating into a Russia-Nato war.

It comes after Ken McCallum, the head of MI5, said that Russia was seeking to “generate mayhem” in Britain, while Iran was planning attacks at “an unprecedented pace and scale”.

In a recent interview with the Telegraph, Stephan Kramer, the head of domestic intelligence in Germany’s Thuringia state, said Putin viewed his nation as a “classical battleground” for waging hybrid warfare on the West.

“Germany … as it is located in the middle of Europe, is a wonderful target for all types of logistical sabotage. Almost any supply for Ukraine has to go through Germany.”