Since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Germany has struggled with security incidents and sabotage attacks involving Russia, which is waging hybrid warfare on the West in revenge for its military support of Ukraine.

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This includes the attempted sabotage of US military sites in the German state of Bavaria which work to support Ukraine and an arson attack on a key arms factory in Berlin.

German security chiefs say their country is an obvious target for Putin owing to its Communist past and – until recently – lax security procedures, linked to many years of underfunding.

At a Bundestag parliamentary committee, Haldenwang said: “We are observing aggressive behaviour by the Russian intelligence services [that is] putting people’s lives at risk. It affects all areas of our free society.”

At the same hearing Bruno Kahl, the head of Germany’s foreign intelligence services, warned that Putin wished to “test the West’s red lines” on the defence of Ukraine and that there remained a high risk of the conflict escalating into a Russia-Nato war.

It comes after Ken McCallum, the head of MI5, said that Russia was seeking to “generate mayhem” in Britain, while Iran was planning attacks at “an unprecedented pace and scale”.

In a recent interview with the London Telegraph, Stephan Kramer, the head of domestic intelligence in Germany’s Thuringia state, said Putin viewed his nation as a “classical battleground” for waging hybrid warfare on the West.

“Germany … as it is located in the middle of Europe, is a wonderful target for all types of logistical sabotage. Almost any supply for Ukraine has to go through Germany,” he said.

The Telegraph, London