Russia plotted to kill CEO of major German weapons manufacturer deemed 'thorn in Moscow's side'

The U.S. and Germany managed to thwart a Russian plot that would have killed the head of a major German arms manufacturer as part of a sabotage campaign against Ukrainian allies and support across Europe, intelligence officials revealed. 

"In view of the latest reports on Rheinmetall, this is what we have actually been communicating more and more clearly in recent months: Russia is waging a hybrid war of aggression," Annalena Baerbock, Germany's foreign minister, said on the sidelines of this week’s NATO summit. 

"We have seen that there have been attacks on people on European territory," she explained. "We have seen that there have been attacks on factories, and this underlines once again that we as Europeans must protect ourselves as best we can and not be naive."