(Adnkronos) – Germany is facing increasing threats from hostile foreign powers, particularly Russia, and a polarized domestic policy on both the far-right and far-left. Warning in its annual report of a growing risk represented, among other things, by saboteurs recruited by Moscow, Chinese spies, Iranian-backed Islamist militants, and violent neo-Nazis is the German domestic security agency BfV.
“The adversaries of our liberal and democratic order come from both outside and inside,” said Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt during the presentation of the report in Berlin, urging “very rapid” government action on the proposal to grant greater powers to German intelligence agencies and abolish some limits on undercover operations. “Given the situation, we are convinced that we must further strengthen our capabilities,” he stated.
The main external threat “currently comes from Russia,” Dobrindt said, pointing to suspicious cases of low-level agents or “occasional collaborators” recruited by Moscow to carry out acts of espionage and sabotage. “Russia considers Germany a key adversary in Europe and employs the full range of tools in its hybrid operations across the continent,” emphasized the President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Sinan Selen.
The report states that foreign powers – not only Russia – conduct “sabotage operations, engage in illicit economic or political interference, including assassination operations, and spread disinformation.” They are also increasingly targeting exiled opposition figures and political activists residing in Germany, the report reads.
Critics of authoritarian regimes living in Germany are persecuted “using methods similar to state terrorism, such as attacks, kidnappings, or murders.” Far-right groups remain a much more serious threat in Germany than those on the far-left, the report states, although Dobrindt noted an increase in violent incidents from both sides. The agency’s report also defines antisemitism, as well as opposition to Israel, as “fundamental” challenges for German security authorities.
“Jewish and Israeli targets remain at the center of attention for state actors, particularly Iran, as well as other organizations,” Selen stated. The section of the report dedicated to right-wing extremism particularly focuses on violent “xenophobic” offenses, emphasizing that many indigenous groups are simultaneously anti-Muslim and antisemitic, as well as anti-immigrant and homophobic.
