Russia steps up bid to kill European defence chiefs, spy agencies warn

Submission Statement: Western intelligence agencies have warned Europe’s defence bosses that Russia is stepping up efforts to assassinate them, prompting companies to increase personal security around their top executives.

Assassinations against European civilian targets — once considered taboo, even by Russia’s spy agencies — are an increasingly prominent part of those plans, European intelligence services have told the FT. 

The FT spoke with officials from five different European intelligence agencies who warned that chief executives and other senior employees at defence companies were being targeted by Kremlin operatives.

Executives at smaller companies — especially those involved in the manufacturing of drones or their components — are also in their sights, the people said.

Germany’s domestic intelligence service (BfV) has significantly increased its outreach to “employees and management” at German defence companies, including recommending the use of privately contracted close-protection teams, a BfV official said.  

Several defence executives, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the FT they had escalated their close-protection arrangements in the past six months on the specific advice of government security services. Others said they only used such measures when travelling outside of their home country.  

In some cases, active plots have already been discovered and stopped. In others, suspicious activity has been observed — including “pattern-of-life” surveillance against individuals at home as well as work. 

Security officials stressed that a key part of the Russian approach was that assassination attempts did not even have to be carried out in order for the campaign have its desired effect.

"The main goal from the Russian perspective is still psychological,” said one intelligence official. “Just by making people feel they might be a target, they are having their effect. They want individuals to think twice before doing business with Ukraine.”  

Defence executives at Europe’s largest arms companies have been on high alert since early 2024, when US and German intelligence uncovered a Russian plot against Armin Papperger, the chief executive of Germany’s Rheinmetall. 

Intelligence sources believed Russian agents had been looking at a single high-profile hit, and Papperger, who had been an outspoken advocate of arming Ukraine against Russia, was a unique target. Papperger has said he now has round-the-clock close protection from a combination of private security guards and police.