German authorities are investigating suspected Russian links to a cache of guns discovered in woods near Berlin last year, which intelligence officials believe was intended for use in assassinations. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt confirmed federal prosecutors are investigating a suspect held in Romania on suspicion of espionage and preparing a serious act of violence, though he stopped short of confirming media reports directly tying the cache to Moscow, saying he could not rule out "the involvement of foreign powers". The case adds to months of warnings from German security agencies that Russian intelligence services are plotting assassinations in the country, potentially targeting defence industry executives or exiled opposition figures.

Dobrindt said Germany's domestic intelligence agency, working with Berlin state police, located two handguns and ammunition in woods on the outskirts of Berlin last October. The weapons were rendered inoperable and the site kept under surveillance for months, though no one was seen retrieving them. German media outlets Süddeutsche Zeitung, NDR and WDR reported the cache was meant to facilitate targeted killings on Moscow's behalf. The Romanian suspect, described as a "low-level agent" of undisclosed nationality, is also held over planned parcel bomb attacks; Dobrindt said several similar operatives, including one from Kazakhstan, have been detained this year. The case follows earlier allegations, including a reported 2024 plot to kill Rheinmetall chief Armin Papperger and the 2021 murder of a Georgian man in a Berlin park, for which a Russian national was jailed for life.