CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler interviewed: “…Last year, a container burned down in a DHL logistics center in Leipzig. The trigger was a package containing an incendiary device with a time fuse. The former president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution later stated that they "narrowly avoided a plane crash." There are also repeated reports of drone flights over military territory or cyberattacks on government agencies and companies. What do we know about these low-level agents, and how is Putin using them for his own purposes? How well is Germany protected against Russian sabotage? Jessica Zahedi discusses this live on ZDFheute with intelligence expert Hans-Jakob Schindler.”

Dr Hans-Jacob Schindler on Russian interference in terrorist attacks in Germany about the need to regulate social media platforms in a more strict way, requiring them to pro-actively cooperate with law enforcement in Europe (starts 19.39).

“German media are reporting that immigrants who allegedly had contacts with Russia could have been behind the recent attacks. However, experts currently have no evidence to confirm their suspicions. "Russia is paying knife-wielding people to break up societies in the West with attacks," Aleksandra Fedorska, editor-in-chief of the Radio Debata agency, commented on the German media reports… It's quite possible, we had the right premises– said Hans Jakob Schindler, director of the non-governmental organization Counter Extremism Project. However, according to the expert on terrorism and the Middle East, this cannot be proven at the moment.”

“... Hans-Jakob Schindler is aware of the theory of Russian agents in Afghanistan. "That is entirely possible, we had corresponding indications," said the director of the NGO Counter Extremism Project (CEP) in an interview with this editorial team. However, this cannot currently be proven, said the terrorism expert. But Russia's aim is to cause social unrest in Germany. Acts of violence shortly before important elections would suit the Russians well, explains Schindler: "However, attacks cannot be timed precisely. For that to happen, Russia would have to intervene directly with the perpetrator in question." If there had been direct Russian intervention, "this should have been noticed during the investigations into the attacks of the last few months."”

“Berlin – Several attacks within a few months : That can definitely change a society. The attacks in Solingen, Mannheim, Aschaffenburg, Magdeburg and most recently in Munich were probably motivated by extremism, the majority of them probably Islamist. In several cases, asylum seekers were the perpetrators, including the car attack in Munich in which a mother and her two-year-old child were killed and dozens of people were injured, some seriously… Hans-Jakob Schindler is aware of the theory of Russian agents in Afghanistan. "That is entirely possible, we had corresponding indications," said the director of the NGO Counter Extremism Project (CEP) in an interview with this editorial team. However, this cannot currently be proven, said the terrorism expert.”

“... "That is certainly possible, we had corresponding indications," said Hans-Jakob Schindler, the director of the NGO Counter Extremism Project (CEP), to the "Frankfurter Rundschau". However, Schindler sees no evidence of Russia or the Taliban's involvement in the attacks in Germany: "Acts of violence shortly before important elections would certainly suit the Russians," said the extremism researcher. "However, attacks cannot be timed precisely. For that to happen, Russia would have to intervene directly with the perpetrator in question. That should have been noticed during the investigations into the attacks of the last few months," said Schindler.”

"Russia has been a close ally of Syria and has leases on two military bases in the country, giving it a strategic foothold in the Middle East.

"It hits them hard," Edmund Fitton-Brown, a senior advisor to the Counter Extremism Project, said of Russia.

He added: "Syria has been their most reliable Arab ally.""

"'Russia could easily suffer losses from indiscriminate Houthi actions in the Red Sea. But it's happy to run that risk for what it sees as bigger gains from stoking conflict,' said Edmund Fitton-Brown, Senior Advisor to the Counter Extremism Project and former Ambassador of the UK to Yemen."

CEP affiliated researcher Kacper Rekawek: "This process began over ten years ago and specifically after the 2012 protests in Moscow, when Russians gathered at Bolotnaya Square to express their disagreement with Putin’s third term as president. Having seen the protesters, who in large numbers were representatives of the urban middle class, the Russian authorities came to the conclusion that it was the liberals who were the main threat to the regime. Although these enemies were identified internally, the Kremlin decided to attack them abroad as well."

“... Terrorism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler from the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) sees three groups that could be considered suspects: in the broadest sense, Russian and Russian-supported actors, radical Islamists or left-wing extremists. He currently considers one suspicion to be particularly likely: "The first thing I would check is whether it was a Russian or Russian-supported attack attempt or whether it was at least initiated by Russia," said Schindler in an interview with IPPEN.MEDIA. There is much to suggest a Russian attack attempt: Germany has been the focus of Russian attackers since 2022 at the latest, if not since the Minsk Agreement in 2015.”