Two individuals have been placed in pre-trial detention, the Higher Court in Subotica has confirmed, after Radio Free Europe’s Balkan service sought clarification on reports carried in the German press. According to those reports, the men were detained near the Serbian–Hungarian border while allegedly en route to Germany to carry out a suspected act of sabotage. Officials have been conspicuously reticent about the unusual case, with only fragmentary details emerging from disparate sources.
Suspected Russians ‘may have been preparing bombing attack’ before arrest at Hungarian border
The court said the suspects, identified by the initials B.D. and Đ.S., were arrested on 12 June. They were initially remanded in custody for 30 days, a period later extended by a further month, meaning they are to remain in detention until at least 10 August, the Hungarian news agency wrote.
The judicial body added that no further information could be disclosed regarding the investigation. Radio Free Europe received no response from either the Serbian police or the Subotica public prosecutor’s office. German police have likewise declined to confirm the reports, while Europol has not responded to enquiries.
The story was first reported on Tuesday by the German tabloid Bild, which claimed that two suspected Russian agents had been apprehended near the Serbian–Hungarian frontier and were allegedly preparing an attack on a German defence-industrial facility.
Factories supplying Ukraine ‘possible targets’
According to the report, explosives were found in the suspects’ possession, although the intended target has not been publicly identified. Investigators reportedly believe the target may have been a facility involved in the production or transport of weapons destined for Ukraine. Neither the company concerned nor the potential location of the planned attack has been disclosed.
Germany’s interior minister said last month that authorities had successfully thwarted a bombing plot, though no details were provided at the time.
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Rising tide of suspected Russian operations
Germany has increasingly found itself in the crosshairs of Russian intelligence activity. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) said last Wednesday that the two detainees may have been so-called “disposable agents” (Wegwerfagenten) — not professional operatives, but recruits tasked with carrying out a specific mission, likely with limited knowledge due to the risk of exposure.
In 2024, a DHL parcel caught fire at Leipzig airport shortly before being loaded onto a cargo aircraft; an investigation by Lithuanian authorities pointed towards Russia. That same year, a fire broke out at a Berlin facility belonging to the defence firm Diehl. Elsewhere, in Bavaria, two German-Russian dual nationals were caught surveilling a Bundeswehr base.
A previous report by the BfV, titled “Threats posed by Russian espionage, sabotage and disinformation”, warned that Moscow is seeking to exploit domestic political fault lines within the EU’s largest economy in an effort to undermine social cohesion and disrupt political discourse.
“I will blow up the whole city – Allahu Akbar” – Budapest man wanted to attack several police headquarters, TEK
