Russia Steps Up Plots to Kill Europe's Defence Bosses, Spies Warn

Intelligence officials from five European countries say Russia is expanding plans to assassinate executives of defence companies that supply Ukraine, according to reporting published by the Financial Times on October 11. The officials say the campaign is part of a wider push of sabotage and hybrid operations meant to frighten Europe's arms industry and weaken support for Kyiv.

A Rheinmetall-branded military vehicle inside a production hall. (File photo)

For years, European security services have tracked Russian sabotage aimed at warehouses, rail lines and other property linked to aid for Ukraine. What has changed, according to the officials cited in the reporting, is the target list. Senior figures at defence firms — not only buildings and equipment — are now said to be in the frame, including people at smaller companies that make drones and drone components.

Several executives told the newspaper they had strengthened their personal protection over the past six months after warnings from their own security services. Some are reported to have round-the-clock protection at home, while others use specialist teams when they travel abroad. At least one company is reported to have moved production to another part of Western Europe because of threats attributed to Russia.

A Shift in Methods

The officials say much of the work is believed to be coordinated by the GRU, Russia's military intelligence service. Earlier operations often relied on individuals recruited online and paid to carry out a single task. The newer pattern, according to the reporting, is more organised: surveillance, logistics, planning and execution can be split among different groups operating in different countries.

Organised crime networks are said to play a growing role in that structure. Using intermediaries makes it harder for investigators to trace an operation back to Moscow, the officials say, and it gives Russian services a layer of distance from any attack that is carried out or attempted.

European agencies say some suspected operations have already been spotted and disrupted. In other cases, suspicious surveillance of potential targets was recorded near workplaces and near homes. No specific new plot against a named executive was made public in the reporting, and the officials who described the threat were not named.

Inside the glass dome of the Reichstag in Berlin, home of Germany's Bundestag. (File photo)

Germany's Warning, On the Record

One part of the warning was delivered publicly. Sinan Selen, who heads Germany's domestic intelligence service, the BfV, told German lawmakers on October 5 that Russia was deliberately planning acts of violence against individuals through state or state-controlled actors. He said the services were watching the activity develop in its targets, its methods and the people involved, including the use of organised crime structures.

Germany's agency has sharply increased its contact with defence companies, according to the reporting, and has advised executives and staff to strengthen their arrangements, including by hiring private protection. The Bundestag hearing on October 5 brought together the heads of Germany's intelligence agencies, who warned more broadly about sabotage, violence and attacks aimed at the defence industry and critical infrastructure.

Denmark Sounds a Similar Alarm

Denmark has added its own warnings in recent weeks. Its security and intelligence service reported on October 7 that attempts had been made to sabotage Danish companies supplying weapons to Ukraine, and assessed that Russian entities were increasingly aiming at production sites whose work directly affects Ukraine's military capability.

Separately, the Danish Defence Intelligence Service released an unclassified assessment on September 24 forecasting more frequent and more damaging Russian hybrid attacks against Western and NATO countries, possibly within months. It raised the prospect of destructive cyberattacks and sabotage carrying a high risk of casualties, while describing a limited Russian military attack on a NATO country as a low but growing risk and an outright invasion as highly unlikely.

Russia's embassy in Denmark rejected the Danish assessment, saying it was not supported by credible evidence, and accused Western governments of escalating tensions over Ukraine. Moscow has routinely denied involvement in sabotage and assassination plots in Europe.

A Warning With a History

The best-known earlier case involved Armin Papperger, the chief executive of the German defence contractor Rheinmetall. Western media reported in July 2024 that a Russian plan to kill him had been uncovered. In January 2025, a senior NATO official confirmed there had been a threat to his life and said other similar plots against defence industry figures had also been identified.

American prosecutors have also charged five individuals, who remain at large, in connection with an alleged global network linked to Russian intelligence that is accused of preparing assassinations and sabotage in the United States and Europe, according to the reporting.

In August, two holidaymakers arrested in Sweden near property belonging to the chief executive of Saab were released shortly afterwards, and no charges were reported in that case — an episode officials cited as a reminder that some Russian-linked activity is amateurish and quickly detected, even as the overall threat is taken seriously.

A worker assembling an unmanned aircraft on a drone production line. (File photo)

What This Means

If the officials are right, the campaign does not need to succeed in killing anyone to have an effect. One intelligence official quoted in the reporting argued that making executives feel they could be targets is itself part of the point, because it raises the cost and anxiety of doing business with Ukraine. Security bills are already rising, and smaller firms and start-ups — the very companies driving much of Europe's drone production — are the least able to absorb round-the-clock protection costs.

The warning also lands at a difficult moment for European governments. Defence production is being expanded at speed to keep supplying Ukraine and to rebuild Europe's own stocks. A threat aimed at the people running that production is, in effect, a threat aimed at the pace of rearmament itself.

At the same time, readers should note what the reporting does not contain. The core claims rest on unnamed intelligence officials, no new plot has been publicly detailed, and Russia denies the allegations. Intelligence services also have their own reasons to publicise a threat: warning executives is a defensive measure, and publicity itself can deter operations that depend on secrecy.

What Happens Next

The Danish assessment sets the timeline officials are watching: more frequent hybrid attacks, possibly within months. In Germany, the BfV's closer work with defence firms suggests executives will be living with heightened protection for some time, and other European agencies are expected to keep briefing companies in their own countries.

Any disrupted plot that leads to arrests or charges would give the public its first hard test of these claims. Prosecutions in Europe have a way of turning intelligence warnings into evidence that can be examined in court.

For now, Europe's defence bosses have been told, in effect, to watch their backs — and the factories behind Ukraine's war effort are operating under a shadow that goes well beyond the battlefield.