German police arrested on Tuesday the alleged perpetrator of the series of sabotages that affected the operation of several power plants in the country this month. It is Daniel V., a supposed 48-year-old climate activist who had been wanted since the end of last week. The arrest comes amid a wave of sabotage and hybrid attacks that the German government directly attributed to Russia on September 1, and two days after the far-right and pro-Russian Alternative for Germany (AfD) swept the regional elections in Saxony-Anhalt.
The security forces and the Cologne Prosecutor’s Office detailed that the suspect was captured near the Weisweiler power plant in North Rhine-Westphalia. The agents already had a profile and a photograph of Daniel V., who was identified after sending a handwritten letter to several media outlets with his name and postal address, as well as technical details of his sabotage actions. In that letter, he defended the attacks as a fight against climate change and called the use of fossil fuels “criminal.” The search of his home in Gevelsberg last week reinforced the suspicion when explosives and pyrotechnic material were found.
On Tuesday, during a routine traffic check, Daniel V. tried to evade the police on foot. The agents recognized him. He was carrying explosives and did not resist. Nearby, among the undergrowth, a tent with more charges was found, which the bomb disposal experts from the Criminal Investigation Office are inspecting. That same Tuesday morning, a second claim letter appeared next to the Weisweiler substation.
The attacks had been occurring since the beginning of the month in the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony, and Brandenburg. The method attributed to the suspect consisted of shooting a thin wire with homemade rockets over high-voltage lines to cause a short circuit. In Saxony alone, 21 devices have been found, nine of them on Monday near a single transformer. Actions on two other electrical systems forced the temporary shutdown of units at two power plants. The director of the Criminal Police, Michael Esser, had warned that the devices shared similarities, a sign of a coordinated campaign.
Until Tuesday, the investigation did not rule out sabotage directed by a foreign state. After almost a month of caution, Berlin held Moscow responsible for the attempted drone attack against Ukrainian cargo planes at Leipzig airport on August 4.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt stated that the police investigation and intelligence services accredited Russian responsibility. The government ordered the closure of the Russian consulate in Bonn and the Russian House in Berlin, tightened controls on Russian citizens, and announced it would propose new European sanctions. Moscow denied the accusations.
The episode is part of an escalation across Europe. Train tracks in Poland, a naval drone in Romania, a foiled arson attack against a weapons factory in Slovakia. Last Thursday, a fire in front of the offices of the defense company Rohde & Schwarz in Munich resulted in the arrest of two Bulgarian citizens.
In that climate, the state of Saxony-Anhalt voted last Sunday. AfD, very close to Moscow, obtained 43.9% of the votes and 39 of the 83 seats in the Parliament, compared to 17.2% for a CDU that had governed the region for 24 years. Turnout reached 77%, a record. The party fell three seats short of an absolute majority and remains isolated by the cordon sanitaire of the other parties, except for the BSW.
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