May 14 (UPI) -- German authorities Wednesday said they arrested three pro-Russian Ukrainian nationals on suspicion of plotting to send parcel bombs on German freight transport. Russia's government was behind the plot.
German federal prosecutors said the two men and one woman, identified as Vladyslav T, Daniil B and Yevhen B, allegedly planned to send parcel bombs meant to explode during transit.
"The individuals had agreed, no later than the end of March 2025, to carry out arson and bomb attacks on freight transport in Germany -- acting on behalf of Russian state authorities," North Rhine-Westphalia's Interior Minister Herbert Reul said at a press conference,
Reul said Russia's sabotage operations are targeting government institutions as well as "critical infrastructure, private businesses, and individual citizens."
They are charged with "secret agent activity for sabotage purposes."
According to the federal prosecutor's office, the suspects worked with Russian state institutions and intended to attack cargo transport with packages designed to detonate during shipment.
Three different packages explosions suspected to be sabotage efforts occurred last July in Britain, Germany and Poland leading security officials to suspect Russia.
British MI6 head Richard Moore warned in November that Russia was behind what he called "a staggeringly reckless" sabotage campaign in Europe.
