The Federal Prosecutor's Office of Germany in Karlsruhe is investigating a case involving an underground weapons storage facility set up in a forest near Müggelsee lake, south of Berlin. According to investigators, in October 2025, 24-year-old Vadim S., who is reportedly a Ukrainian citizen, traveled from Poland to Berlin by bus. After receiving a detailed plan of action via smartphone, he collected two packages from temporary storage and carried them into the forest. After burying the cache, the suspect sent the coordinates and photos of the location to his handlers, then returned to Poland. In the cache, law enforcement found pistols, including a copy of a Makarov pistol, and ammunition.
How the scheme was intercepted
Polish counterintelligence played a key role in uncovering the case: after intercepting the data on the cache sent to the handlers, Polish colleagues alerted German intelligence services. German police rendered the discovered weapons inoperable and set up surveillance on the cache, but no one came to collect the "drop" — the courier was detained in another country at that time. According to sources, in mid-October 2025 the suspect and his accomplice were arrested in Bucharest, where Romanian security services charged them with an attempted sabotage and arson attack on a Nova Poshta branch.
Links to Russian intelligence services
According to intelligence, the recruitment of the young man into sabotage activities was carried out by his uncle, who works for Russian intelligence services. In the course of the case, according to media reports, the perpetrators also attempted to send packages containing explosive devices disguised as headphones, as well as containers of flammable nitromethane. German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt stated that the discovery of such a cache indicates a shift from an "abstract" to a direct and high threat of terrorist attacks in the country. The case is being investigated by the Federal Prosecutor's Office in Karlsruhe under two counts.
Context: intensification of hybrid attacks in Europe
Experts note that Russian intelligence services have intensified hybrid attacks and sabotage activities on the territory of Germany and other EU countries in recent months. In Germany, a case is being investigated in parallel regarding a secret weapons warehouse near Berlin, which Russian agents could have used to prepare assassinations and acts of sabotage, as well as direct attacks on Ukrainian facilities. In particular, at Leipzig/Halle Airport, law enforcement discovered a drone carrying explosives that had been used in an attempt to strike a Ukrainian An-124 transport aircraft. In the assessment of German authorities, the totality of these episodes indicates the systematic nature of sabotage activity on the country's territory.
