FT: five European spy agencies warn defence firms of Russian plans to kill their executives

Representatives of five European intelligence services told the Financial Times that Russia is stepping up preparations for assassination attempts on the heads of European defence companies, including makers of drones and components, the newspaper reports. The article was published on 11 October; detailed accounts appeared in Novaya Gazeta Europe, The Moscow Times, Meduza and DW. According to the newspaper's sources, Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU, is mainly responsible, and one aim of the campaign is to intimidate the industry and make support for Ukraine harder.

What the intelligence services said

According to the FT's sources, the Kremlin has ordered an expansion of sabotage and other "hybrid" operations in Europe to critically weaken support for Kyiv in the coming months. Assassinations of civilians in Europe, previously considered taboo even for Russian intelligence services, are becoming a prominent part of those plans, DW reports. Targets include not only the heads of major arms manufacturers but also senior staff at smaller firms, especially makers of drones and components.

The newspaper's sources place the main responsibility on the GRU: they say it is working more closely with organised criminal groups, using cross-border agent networks and splitting reconnaissance, logistics, planning and execution between different groups and individuals, Meduza writes. Russian services previously relied more on lone agents recruited online, Novaya Gazeta Europe notes. In many cases, one source says, the agents are still unprofessional; several planned attacks have reportedly been uncovered and prevented.

In Germany, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), the domestic intelligence agency, has significantly expanded its outreach to defence companies and recommends hiring private bodyguards, DW reports.

Russia is engaged in the deliberate preparation of acts of violence against individuals by state or state-controlled actors.

What was already known

Senior executives at Europe's largest defence companies have been on alert since early 2024, when US and German intelligence uncovered a Russian plot to kill Armin Papperger, the head of the German arms maker Rheinmetall, who openly advocates arming Ukraine, DW recalls. NATO later confirmed it knew of those plans and of other sabotage cases attributed to Russia, Meduza notes. Papperger has said he is now under round-the-clock protection by private bodyguards together with police.

Research by the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) and GLOBSEC, a Bratislava-based security think tank, reported by The Insider, found that from February 2022 to mid-February 2026 Poland was the European country most affected by Russian hybrid operations: researchers linked 31 of 151 episodes to Russian activity, including arson, sabotage, propaganda and preparation of violent crimes. In September 2026, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned that Russia was preparing a new wave of hybrid attacks against NATO countries supporting Ukraine.

A separate episode the same day is not part of this story: on 11 October Polish police received an emailed warning about a possible plot against Tusk and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, security services held an emergency meeting and an official called the threat's probability high. Polish authorities did not link the threat to Russia, The Insider stresses.

What it means

If the intelligence assessments are correct, the campaign's logic is to make support for Ukraine costly not only for states but for private companies and their employees.

From the Russian point of view, the main goal is still psychological. The mere awareness that someone could become a target has the desired effect. They want people to think twice before doing business with Ukraine.

In practice, executives are changing routines and beefing up security — some only when travelling abroad; companies are bearing rising security costs, and one, according to the FT, moved production to another part of Western Europe. Startups are the most exposed. The advice to hire private guards, given by state agencies, shifts part of the response to a political threat onto the firms themselves. The test is simple: whether European companies and governments change their decisions under threat.

A caveat: all of this rests on intelligence assessments relayed by one newspaper; the services are not named and no documents are public. But the backdrop is not a single publication's invention: the Papperger plot, the ICCT and GLOBSEC data and the Polish prime minister's warnings are documented cases that European intelligence agencies and investigators have linked to Russia for several years. How accurate the current assessment of scale is remains a question without a public answer.

What remains unverified

Almost every detail rests on a single chain: the FT and five anonymous intelligence services. The accounts by Novaya Gazeta Europe, The Moscow Times, Meduza and DW are not independent confirmation. The FT original is behind a paywall, so its exact wording is known through those accounts; no names, dates or documents about the foiled plots have been published. The BfV head's statement is known through DW, which quotes his 5 October speech; we have not checked the original German text. No Russian official response appears in the collected material.

Much now depends on whether new warnings and public confirmations follow — and on how the companies and governments directly affected behave.

Source: Financial Times — "Russia steps up bid to kill European defence chiefs, spy agencies warn" (paywalled); Novaya Gazeta Europe — "FT: intelligence services have warned that Russia is stepping up attempts to kill the heads of defence companies" (in Russian); The Moscow Times (Russian service) — "FT: The Kremlin has declared a hunt for top managers of European defence companies" (in Russian); Meduza — "FT: Western intelligence agencies have warned that Russia plans assassinations of defence company executives in Europe" (in Russian); DW — "FT: EU intelligence services expect Russian attempts on the heads of defence companies" (in Russian). Also: The Insider — "Polish police received information about a possible plot against Prime Minister Tusk and the defence minister" (in Russian); The Insider — "Since summer 2025 the number of Russia-linked hybrid attacks in Europe has risen sharply — ICCT and GLOBSEC report" (in Russian); The Insider — "Russia is preparing 'hybrid' drone and missile strikes on NATO countries — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk" (in Russian).