Rheinmetall assassination plan: Why is the company a target?

On Wednesday, the US news channel CNN reported that earlier this year Russia's government had been planning to assassinate the business executive of a major German arms manufacturer — presumably to discourage the further production of weapons and military vehicles to be delivered to Ukraine. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, the German government has supplied €5.2 billion ($5.7 billion) worth of military equipment to Ukraine, according to an official statement.

The target, Armin Papperger, 61, is the CEO of Rheinmetall, a publicly traded company specialized in automotive and arms manufacturing. Ranked as one of Europe's largest arms manufacturers, the company is listed in Germany's leading share index the DAX, which tracks the performance of Germany's 40 largest companies on the Frankfurt stock exchange.