❗️ On December 7, the German police conducted one of the largest operations in the history of the country against a group of right-wing extremists who were planning a violent overthrow of the government in Germany. 25 members of the group were detained, including Prince of Heinrich XIII, ex-commander of the Bundeswehr special unit Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, 52 people were searched in 11 of the 16 federal states.
❓ What is known so far?
🔸 According to the investigation, the mutiny was led by 71-year-old Heinrich Reiss, the so-called Prince Henry XIII of Reuss, a descendant of an old German noble family. Most of the plotters were members of a radical right-wing group based on the Reichsbürger («Citizens of the Empire») ideology, which denies the existence of a modern German state and calls for the restoration of the German Reich under the 1871 version of the Imperial Constitution. The putschists planned an attack on the Bundestag and the formation of a provisional military government, as well as negotiations «with former allies from the results of the Second World War», including russia, which the conspirators saw as the most important external ally.
🔸 The Prosecutor General’s Office found a possible «russian trace» in the events of December 7. Although the German watchdog is currently clarifying that there is no reason to believe that russian officials supported the plotters, intelligence agencies are investigating the group’s ties to russia.
❓ While the investigation is ongoing, what arguments can currently be made in favor of the version of the involvement of the russian federation in the organization of the coup d’état?
🔸 It is obvious that Germany remains one of the main targets for the russian special services. The rebel group was founded no later than the end of November 2021, just as moscow was preparing for a full-scale war against Ukraine and confrontation with the West.
🔸 Extremists gave russia the main role in the plans to establish a new order of government in Germany. In order to get the necessary support and coordinate plans to attack the German authorities, the accused Reiss contacted representatives of the russian federation through the detained russian-born «partner of the prince’s life», Vitalya B., who acted as a liaison between the prince and the russian consulate in Germany.
🔸 The kremlin immediately distanced itself from the events in Germany, putin’s press secretary d.peskov denied russian interference, and defined the coup attempt as an internal matter of Germany. However, a narrative is spreading in russian propaganda social networks that suspicions of russian involvement in the rebellion are a deliberate provocation by the US special services and «political PR» on the part of the German authorities, which is thus trying to divert the attention of the population from urgent problems and dissatisfaction with J.Biden’s policy towards Germany.
🔸 It is no secret that the kremlin sponsors right-wing radical political movements in Europe, actively creating a network of supporters of moscow among the radicals on the European continent in order to influence the adoption of important decisions necessary for the leadership of russia. Therefore, it is not surprising that the insurgents included the ex-member of the Bundestag from the right-wing radical party «Alternative for Germany» (AfD) Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, who, in the event of a successful storming of the parliament, was to become the Minister of Justice. It is this political force that actively maintains ties with various structures of putin’s party «United russia». At the end of 2020, German counterintelligence services discovered extremists in the KSK special forces. One of those radical currents with which these security forces were connected was the youth wing of AfD, headed by Markus Frohnmaier, known for his pro-russian sentiments.
🔸 In recent years, russia has been actively training extremists to «shake up» the situation in Europe. According to the Western press, back in 2018 in Bern, Zurich and Lugano under the cover of a network of sports schools, the russian special services trained radicals to further destabilize the internal situation in the region. It was reported about 300 German soldiers, police officers, employees of the courts, fighters of the elite special units of the Federal Police of Germany and the Bundeswehr, who, under the pretext of special courses of the russian special forces, were recruited and prepared for various provocations on the territory of Germany, not excluding the organization of a coup d’état.
❗️ The investigation is ongoing, but it is already clear that the German special bodies played ahead and eliminated the possibility of political undermining inside the country.
