A Russian citizen has been charged in Berlin with attempted homicide and attempted arson for placing an explosive or incendiary device last year in a building where employees of a Russian news agency lived, prosecutors in the German capital said Monday.
The 55-year-old suspect, whose name was not released, is accused of placing the device in an opening at the building’s basement in late April 2022. It failed to ignite for reasons that are unclear and was discovered and defused days later.
The suspect was arrested on Dec. 14. Before that, he was involved in public protests against the Russian government, including a protest camp outside the Russian Embassy in Berlin, prosecutors said in a statement. Shortly after Russia launched its war in Ukraine in February 2022, he posted on social media about the building that was later attacked and said that “war against us all” was being conducted from it.
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The man was “not uncontroversial” among Russian opposition activists, prosecutors said. He also is accused of fraudulently obtaining aid during the coronavirus pandemic and manipulating gas and electricity at his apartment.
The suspect denies the accusations and claims to be the victim of a conspiracy by Russian intelligence agencies, but the investigation has produced no evidence of that, according to prosecutors.