Twenty-five people were arrested and 3,000 members of the police mobilized in Germany. The Russian embassy on Wednesday denied any link with “terrorist” groups.
German justice announced this Wednesday, December 7 to have thwarted plans for attacks by a far-right and conspiratorial group which planned to attack the democratic institutions of the country and in particular Parliament.
A large dragnet resulted in the arrest of 25 people across the country. They are particularly suspectedof having made concrete preparations to break into the German Bundestag violently», the Chamber of Deputies in Berlin, «with a small armed groupsaid prosecutors in a statement. “We suspect that an armed attack on the constitutional bodies was planned“commented the Minister of Justice, Marco Buschmann, in a message on Twitter evoking “a large counter-terrorist operation“.
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Some 3,000 law enforcement personnel were mobilized across Germany and more than 130 searches were carried out in what media described as the largest such police operation ever in Germany. In addition to the arrests, 27 other people are targeted by the investigation and suspected of belonging to the criminal cell, according to the prosecution. One arrest took place in Austria and another in Italy.
“Citizens of the Reich”
Founded “no later than the end of 2021“, the small group had”aimed at overcoming the existing state order in Germany and replacing it with a form of its own state“, a project that cannot be carried out “only by the use of military means and violence against the representatives of the State“, According to the press release from the Karlsruhe public prosecutor’s office, in charge of cases concerning state security.
Its members areunited by a profound rejection of state institutions and of the liberal and democratic basic order of the Federal Republic of Germany, which over time grew in them the decision to participate in their elimination by violence and embark on concrete preparatory acts to this end“, decipher the prosecutors.
Reject the state order
In recent years, the German authorities have ranked far-right violence as the number one threat to public order, ahead of the jihadist risk. In the spring, they had dismantled another far-right group suspected of having planned attacks in the country and the kidnapping of the Minister of Health, at the origin of the anti-Covid restriction measures.
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In particular, a German movement known as “theReichsburger(citizens of the Reich), who have in common the rejection of the state order. They don’t recognize its institutions, obey the police, pay taxes, or reinvent their vehicle license plates.
Contacts with Russia
Of the approximately 20,000 estimated militants of this ideology in Germany, a fringe has become radicalized, including Holocaust deniers and considering the use of violent action. In the case of the dismantled group, the members also referred to the theories of the QAnon movement, a far-right conspiratorial group from the United States, according to the prosecution.
“They are firmly convinced that Germany is currently ruled by members of a so-called “deep state“” and “the imminent intervention of the“Alliance“”, a technically superior secret society of governments, intelligence services and military of different countries, including the Russian Federation and the United States of America, “will bring liberation”.
Contacts had also been made by one of the leaders of the cell with “representatives of the Russian Federation in Germany“. According to the investigations carried out so far, however, nothing indicates that these interlocutors reacted positively to the request. In its plan to eliminate the democratic order, this network was aware that there will also be deaths, “an intermediate step deemed necessaryto reach the “system change“.
In the meantime, the Kremlin has denied any connection to these arrests. “This is an internal problem of the Federal Republic of Germany, they themselves see that no interference from Russia can be mentioned here“Reacted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
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Justice says it has identified a very structured and hierarchical organization made up of a “central body” and a “military arm“in charge of the purchase of equipment for training in the weapons of recruitment, but also of commissions”Justice», “Foreign Affairs” Where “Health“. Former soldiers are among the protagonists. Very recently, in October, members of the “military armspotted Bundeswehr barracks to inspect their ability to accommodate their own troops after their “Rebellion“.