Weapons for Putin's agents? Secret arms cache found in Berlin forest

Officials have discovered a cache of weapons in a forest near Berlin, according to information obtained by the public broadcasters WDR and NDR and the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) daily.

Two live firearms were reportedly stored in the professionally set-up depot.

Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), is reported to have evidence suggesting it is a hideout used by Russian security services.

It is a secret drop site for materials and information, known only to the sender and recipient and referred to among agents as a "dead letterbox."

German security authorities now assume that the weapons were left for agents who, acting on behalf of Moscow, were to carry out so-called "kinetic operations" or acts of physical violence.

The head of the domestic intelligence service, Sinan Selen, warned months ago that Russia could carry out assassinations. Possible targets, he said, include defence industry managers, opposition figures in exile and supporters of Ukraine.

Russian embassy remains silent so far

A request for comment sent to the Russian embassy by NDR, WDR and SZ has so far gone unanswered.

In the past, similar accusations have been dismissed by the Russian embassy as conspiracy theories.

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