Overview

• The BKA, BfV, BND, and MAD unveiled the “Kein Wegwerf-Agent werden!” initiative to deter online approaches tied to suspected Russian intelligence.
• Security services report a rise in recruitment via social platforms and messengers, often through intermediaries who conceal the true handlers.
• Police are probing suspected arson, drone overflights, and covert reconnaissance targeting energy, transport, military sites, and the defense industry.
• Officials warn that ‘verfassungsfeindliche Sabotage’ can carry up to five years in prison, while serious cases of agent activity can reach ten years, and the public is urged not to engage.
• The shift toward low-skill proxies is linked by agencies to tighter post-2022 countermeasures, with recent cases including May arrests in Germany and Switzerland over alleged plans to disrupt freight transport.