Germany logs 165 suspected sabotage cases so far in 2026

Figures from the Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt) suggest German police have logged 165 suspected sabotage cases so far in 2026.

Suspected sabotage on the rise in Germany?

According to figures from the Bundeskriminalamt seen by Tagesschau, police in Germany recorded 165 suspected sabotage cases between January and the end of August this year. By comparison, police logged 320 suspected sabotage attacks in all of 2025. 

The majority of suspected cases occurred in Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Bavaria. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution defines sabotage as “deliberate disruption of economic, scientific, military, security or political processes”. For example, intentionally disrupting electricity substations, communications or transportation networks. 

Other European countries are seeing a similar pattern. Throughout August, suspected or successful sabotage attacks occurred in Bulgaria, Italy, Estonia, Slovakia and Poland. 

One month after explosive-packed drones shut down operations at Leipzig/Halle Airport in early August, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) said the attack followed a "well-established pattern of Russian hybrid operations in Europe.”

Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński agrees the Kremlin is responsible for the uptick in suspected sabotage. "There are many, many signals that Russia is changing its strategy and intensifying its activities, including terrorist and sabotage activities," Kierwiński said.

What are Russia’s motivations?

Speaking to the BBC, Daniela Richterova of the Department of War Studies at King's College London said Russia's stepped-up sabotage attempts should be understood as “coercive signalling” to countries supporting Ukraine. Germany is the biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine.

"We've basically seen Ukraine take the war to Russia and strike deep inside Russian territory…[Moscow] is under pressure, they have to do something,” Richterova added.

Kier Giles of the international affairs think tank Chatham House told the BBC that Russia was “probing the boundaries of what’s acceptable and collecting information from the results. [...] They're assessing the willingness of the victim country to actually do something about it.”

Following the Leipzig drone attack in August, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul announced the closure of the Russisches Haus in Berlin, which once represented ties between the GDR and the Soviet Union. The Kremlin responded by shutting the Goethe-Institut’s Moscow location. 

Further suspected attacks in early September on electricity infrastructure in various federal states prompted Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) to announce a crackdown on Russia’s “shadow fleet”. 

The “shadow fleet” commonly refers to a group of vessels which use flags of convenience to circumvent EU sanctions on Russian energy exports.