Chinese drones over German bases, paid saboteurs lighting fires for Russia—Germany’s military spells out the new normal

Russia has made Germany a priority espionage target, and the threat from cheap, deniable sabotage carried out by civilians paid for one-off jobs is rising, Germany's Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD) said in its 2025 annual report—the first published under a new law obliging annual disclosure. MAD blamed Germany's geostrategic position in Europe and NATO, the expansion of the Bundeswehr, and the introduction of new weapons systems. Repeated sabotage cases on German soil last year were "with high probability" Russian-run, MAD said.

For two years Berlin has publicly warned about a Kremlin campaign of arson, surveillance, and drone incursions run through cheap local proxies—mostly at press briefings and closed sessions. A January 2026 transparency law now forces that warning onto the statutory public record, sharpening the burden of an operational answer. Germany hosts NATO's logistics spine for arming Ukraine—the very hub Moscow's proxies keep aiming at.

Sabotage on the cheap

"Hybrid attacks have increased in Germany," MAD said.

The threat from "low-level agents"—residents paid small sums to plant fires or photograph military sites—has significantly increased. Recent incidents match the model: a bomb-laden drone found in August beside a Ukrainian cargo aircraft at Leipzig/Halle airport was traced this month to a Russian intelligence operative and a Belarusian petty criminal, and two Bulgarian nationals were arrested over a September suspected arson near defense-electronics firm Rohde & Schwarz in Munich. Russia's Legalresidenturen — intelligence outposts inside embassies, semi-state bodies, and press agencies—remain a central instrument of Moscow's information-gathering.

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Some drone overflights and unauthorized entries at Bundeswehr sites are attributable to Chinese intelligence, MAD said, which is also drawing on parts of the Chinese diaspora in Germany.

The service flagged travel by German soldiers to Russia and Belarus: personnel with family ties there kept visiting despite the security climate, drawing the attention of Russian and Belarusian intelligence services and creating particular exposure to blackmail and threats.