The case brings back memories of investigations into Russian sabotage using incendiary devices in air cargo packages. "In such actions, such as the one that has now apparently been prevented, one must ask the question of when the term 'act of sabotage' no longer suffices and one must speak of an attack on Germany," said terrorism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler, director of the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), in an interview with our editorial team.

TV interview (in German) with CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler on arrest warrant for suspected Kremlin saboteurs in Germany 

Three Ukrainians are said to have agreed to carry out attacks on freight transport in Germany . The Federal Prosecutor's Office accuses them of acting as agents for the purpose of sabotage – and has had them arrested.
There is suspicion that Russian government agencies are behind the attacks. Intelligence expert Hans-Jakob Schindler from the Counter Extremism Project in New York and Berlin assesses the situation live on ZDFheute and explains Russia's tactics.

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.”

CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler interviewed on the security situation in the Middle East and the visit of the U.S. President. 

However, the results of a study by terrorism researcher Sofia Koller of the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) suggest that many of those affected have been trying to return to Germany for years. Lydia G. is also said to have had a change of heart; she wants to return to Germany. Whether and when a trial against the IS returnee will begin is not yet known.

Blonde pigtails, blue eyes, country flair: this is how "Die Heimat", formerly the NPD, sells itself on its homepage. Its offspring, on the other hand, are aggressive, masked and openly violent. In order to win over young people from outside the party, they set up local groups with new names.

The German security authorities repeatedly stated that many of these women did not want to return to Germany. However, a paper by researcher Sofia Koller from the international non-profit organization "Counter Extremism Project" from February 2024 shows that several women did want to return even then. According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, around 40 percent of the approximately 1,150 people who traveled from Germany to Syria or Iraq returned to Germany, around 25 percent of whom were women. The security authorities assume that a smaller proportion of the returnees continue to hold Salafist-jihadist views. The Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution's 2023 report states that this applies to two of the 16 returnees in Bavaria.

Hans-Jakob Schindler classifies these groups as extremely dangerous: "Firstly, the network poses a danger because there is a network of violence-oriented individuals. At some point, it will become difficult for the security authorities to monitor everyone at the same time. And secondly, all kinds of attack scenarios are played out in these channels, from bomb attacks to knife attacks." The Center for Monitoring Analysis and Strategy, CeMAS for short, has found more than 650 Germans in 164 "Terrorgram" groups since 2022. CeMAS expert Miro Dittrich is particularly concerned that many Germans are so heavily involved in these groups: "It is alarming that some very young people are active in these channels. 12- or 13-year-olds who are already at the end of a radicalization process. Some of them order explosives and plan to commit mass murders for an extreme right-wing ideology." He warns that the network could continue to try to motivate attacks - in Germany too.