Overview

• Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned in the Bundestag that Putin’s Russia is testing limits through sabotage, espionage, killings and efforts to destabilize societies.
• Investigators traced incendiary packages that ignited at Leipzig Airport on July 20, 2024, and at a UK airport two days later to Lithuanian senders and so‑called Wegwerfagenten.
• Lithuanian authorities have arrested several suspects who are alleged to have mailed homemade explosive devices to the UK and multiple EU countries on behalf of Russian intelligence.
• DER SPIEGEL’s three‑part podcast reconstructs how deep‑cover “illegals” operate, including the 2011 GSG‑9 raid that exposed Heidrun and Andreas Anschlag after more than two decades under cover.
• The series reports that Russia’s cyber toolkit now blends hacking with physical sabotage and logistics manipulation, and that German counterintelligence is adjusting in concert with international partners.