German intel sources have concluded with a high degree of certainty that a fire at an electronics factory in the southwest Berlin neighborhood of Lichterfelde last month was an act of sabotage by Russian-paid fifth columnists seeking to disrupt the flow of weaponry to Ukraine given that the factory’s owner, Diehl Group, supplies anti-air defense systems to Kyiv, Business Insider reports.
One problem: This specific factory manufactures parts strictly for automotive and electronic applications, meaning that all the Russians accomplished was to raise Diehl’s insurance premiums.
Per the Wall Street Journal, sources are highly confident it was an inside job by an employee with knowledge of the factory who had been recruited by the Kremlin via Telegram and paid with crypto to carry out the arson as an allied intel service had intercepted messages saying as much. The problem for prosecutors is that such evidence would not be admissible in a German court. Unknown if the son of a bitch who lit the fire has been waylaid through other, possibly extrajudicial, means.