CNN: Russia planned to kill Rheinmetall CEO, German arms corporation supplies shells to Ukraine

Russian authorities were preparing to assassinate the head of the arms company Rheinmetall, Armin Papperger, CNN reports , citing five American and Western officials. Rheinmetall supplies weapons to Ukraine.

When American intelligence learned of Papperger's planned assassination, they passed the information on to Germany, which was able to prevent the assassination attempt. A senior source in the German government confirmed to CNN that Berlin received information about the plot from the US.

According to CNN, the planned assassination attempt on Papperger is just one in a series of assassinations planned by Russia against defense industry executives across Europe. The channel does not disclose what other assassinations Russia was preparing, but emphasizes that the plan to kill the head of Rheinmetall was " the most thought-out."

Following the CNN publication, the German publication Spiegel reported, citing sources, that preventing an assassination attempt on Papperger was “too radical a formulation.” According to it, the German authorities received a warning from US intelligence services about two months ago, but without details of the planned attack or indication of the identities of the perpetrators.

At the end of April, Papperger's dacha caught fire in Hermannsburg, the Bild newspaper wrote . Then left-wing radicals published a post on the Indymedia platform, in which they reported that they had set fire to the house of the head of Rheinmetall with an incendiary device. They explained the arson by the fact that Papperger's company was "one of the beneficiaries of the turning point" - the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

Last summer, Papperger announced that Rheinmetall would open an armored vehicle manufacturing plant in Ukraine. In June 2024, Ukrainian Minister for Strategic Industries Oleksandr Kamyshin announced that the first Rheinmetall and Ukroboronprom project, an armored vehicle repair and manufacturing facility, had begun operations in the country.

Rheinmetall is the largest ammunition manufacturer in Europe. The company produces, in particular, the 155 mm caliber shells needed by Ukraine.

Updated at 23:57. Information from Spiegel added.