Germany Claims Green Extremist Anti-Car Vandalism May Have Actually Been Russian False Flag

Hundreds of cars in German cities sabotaged and left with environmentalist messages on them may actually have been attacked by Russian agents in a plot to discredit Green politics, it is claimed.

Germany’s Green Party Foreign Minister has warned the public to be wary of “disinformation” after a controversial campaign of sabotage against private citizens’ automobiles, apparently by supporters of her own political party, is now being linked instead to a Russian false-flag operation.

Germany is little more than two weeks away from a snap Federal election to choose the composition of its parliament and next government, and headlines of foreign interference abound in the national and international press, with Russia and America most frequently blamed.

Over 270 cars across Berlin, Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, and Brandenburg were disabled in a spate of attacks in December, with builders’ expanding spray foam inserted into the exhaust. Preventing exhaust gasses from leaving the engine would likely prevent a car from starting or cause it to quickly stall as the final stage in the combustion cycle is unable to take place.

The vandalised cars were also left with stickers featuring the face of the German Green Party Robert Habeck, who is presently the Vice Chancellor of Germany as part of the governing coalition of left and centrist parties. The stickers proclaimed, “Be greener!”. There was outrage against environmentalist radicals over the attacks at the time.

Consequently, the hundreds of disabled cars were blamed on radical Green activists, but now German news magazine Der Spiegel claims to have spoken to intelligence community insiders who claim it was actually the work of paid Russian agents trying to discredit the Green party.

The report states the investigation is focussing on a group of young men with Serbian, Bosnian, and German identities who were pulled over in a van in December. The vehicle was said to have contained several containers of spray foam, but as they appeared to be repairmen, they were allowed to go. Later that night, dozens of vehicles in a nearby area had their exhausts blocked.

Per Spiegel, one of the group is said to have subsequently told police he was recruited through a messaging app, instructed how to disable a car, and offered €100 ($100) per car for the work by a Russian contact. Thousands of Euros were allegedly paid.

Austrian publisher ORF states that since these claims became public, the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock — a senior Green party politician — said her party was a target for a Russian attack because of its strong anti-Moscow stance. She is reported to have said: “In our National Security Strategy, we as the Federal Government have therefore made it clear that we will continue to strengthen our defences against disinformation and the resilience of our democracy… This includes exposing the Kremlin’s perfidious strategies and holding those responsible and their henchmen to account”.

A Green Party spokesman said the revelations are proof of how Russia is trying to “manipulate public discourse and attack democratic decision-making processes, including elections”.

Russian or not, acts of sabotage against private vehicles by climate extremists are not unknown. As previously reported, thousands of SUVs in urban areas have had their tyres deflated by so-called ‘extinguishers’ who leave a leaflet with cars so targeted to let the driver know activists find their choice of vehicle unacceptable.

A group in the UK that claimed to have deflated tyres on 2,000 SUVs left notes that read: “ATTENTION—your gas guzzler kills… We have deflated one or more of your tyres. You’ll be angry, but don’t take it personally. It’s not you; it’s your car.

“We did this because driving around urban areas in your massive vehicle has huge consequences for others… You’ll have no difficulty getting around without your gas guzzler, with walking, cycling, or public transport”.

The car sabotage case in Germany follows patterns established elsewhere by Moscow, apparently pivoting away from traditional spycraft — made difficult by many European states ejecting their diplomats and sanctioning other Russian citizens — towards recruiting potential saboteurs by social media. These “disposable” assets may be down-on-their-luck criminals in need of money and attracted to potentially considerable pay-outs for relatively simple, if illegal, work.

In one case in Poland from December 2023, paid saboteurs were offered $5 to post a propaganda leaflet, $400 to install a spy camera, and $10,000 to derail a train. 14 people, including Ukrainian ‘refugees’, Belarussians, and a Russian living in Poland, were jailed over the network.