Overview

• Federal criminal police and intelligence services launched the public drive “Kein Wegwerf-Agent werden!” and identified Russia as a key origin of recruitment attempts.
• Officials describe recruits as untrained locals lured via social media or messengers with small payments to commit sabotage, espionage, or vandalism without knowing their true handlers.
• Authorities stress that online anonymity masks foreign direction while leaving on-the-ground perpetrators legally accountable.
• Penalties include up to five years for constitutional sabotage and up to ten years for serious cases of intelligence activity, with BKA chief Holger Münch urging people to ignore such approaches.
• Recent and cited cases include police probes into arson, drone overflights, and covert photography of energy, transport, military, and defense sites, EU sanctions on a GRU colonel for online recruiting, a 2024 Poland arson plot tied to a recruit in Germany, and the Paris graffiti operation; BND chief Bruno Kahl called the threat an attack on democracy.