German police on Sunday were investigating an “act of sabotage” at the country’s rail infrastructure, with some officials pointing fingers at Russia after the Nord Stream pipeline blasts.
Vital communications cables were cut in two places on Saturday, causing rail services in the north to be suspended for three hours and causing travel chaos for thousands of passengers.
The rail operator Deutsche Bahn blamed “sabotage” for the travel interruptions, Transport Minister Volker Wissing spoke of “a targeted and intentional approach”.
Germany’s best-selling daily newspaper, Bild, quoted an internal document from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) in which an early analysis of the incident stated that an act of “state-ordered sabotage” was conceivable.
The document referred to the “distant crime scenes” where the cables were cut, around 540 kilometers away in Herne in western North Rhine-Westphalia and in eastern Berlin.
The BKA also noted that the incident took place not long after the underwater explosions on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines between Germany and Russia last month.
The pipeline sabotage has fueled tensions between Russia and the West, which were already sky-high over the Ukraine war, but Moscow denies any involvement in the blasts.
Anton Hofreiter, MP for the Green Party and chairman of the German Bundestag’s Europe Committee, said Russia could be behind the train disruptions.
“In order to pull this off, you have to know the railway’s radio system very well. The question is whether we are dealing with sabotage by foreign powers,” Hofreiter told the Funke newspaper group.
Since the Nord Stream leaks “pointed to the Kremlin,” “we cannot rule out that Russia could also be behind the rail attack,” he said.
“Maybe both are warning shots because we support Ukraine.”
Police said the investigation into Saturday’s incident is still wide open and they have not publicly mentioned any suspects. According to local media, the authorities are also checking whether left-wing extremists could be to blame.
– “Hybrid Threats” –
Amid growing concerns about the vulnerability of Germany’s critical infrastructure, Hofreiter called for investing €20 billion ($19 billion) in the coming years to increase security, including cybersecurity.
A senior German military official warned that more attacks were possible.
“Every power plant, every energy transmission line is a potential target,” said Major General Carsten Breuer of the picture and spoke of growing “hybrid threats”.
Germany’s conservative opposition party, the CDU, also called for stricter monitoring of important infrastructure.
“We have to rethink the security architecture of Germany and the EU,” said CDU member of the Bundestag Thorsten Frei of the RND media group. “The modern age of hybrid warfare requires us to adapt,” he said.
