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Intelligence on a possible threat of Russian sabotage action against Geilenkirchen NATO air base caused it to temporarily raise its security level last week, German press agency dpa reported Monday, citing German security sources.
A foreign intelligence service gave “serious indication” of preparatory actions for a likely Russian act of sabotage against the NATO base, possibly involving the use of drones, the German newspaper Tagesspiegel reported.
For most of Friday, the air base of the Western defense alliance in North Rhine-Westphalia instated the second-highest security level.
Upon receiving the information, all non-essential personnel were sent home to minimize the potential risk, but air traffic was not disrupted and continued to operate normally. Since there were no incidents at the air base, the security level was reduced to the previous level on Friday afternoon.
About 1,600 people work at the airfield, which stations special aircraft currently used primarily to monitor airspace in NATO’s eastern theater, a spokesperson for the defense alliance said. The base’s radar is capable of locating and identifying other aircraft at a range of more than 400 kilometers.
The alert level rise follows a series of recent sabotage threats in Germany. Two weeks ago, the Geilenkirchen base and another military base near Cologne airport were temporarily sealed off as authorities investigated a possible water-supply sabotage. The Cologne-Wahn airbase is a major transportation hub for Ukrainian soldiers trained in Germany.
Earlier, in June, Russian saboteurs set fire to a metal factory belonging to the defense contractor Diehl in Berlin. According to Western security officials, the saboteurs’ goal was to disrupt shipments of critical weapons and ammunition to Ukraine.
