Is the Russian murder machine ramping up?

Are we witnessing a new and more dangerous stage in the indirect war between Russia and the West? The news that Moscow’s agents may have been planning to assassinate European defence industrialists suggests they are escalating their covert operations abroad, which demands a quick and serious response.

German and US intelligence sources are claiming that Russia’s intelligence services were planning to kill Armin Papperger, head of the German arms firm Rheinmetall, as the first in a number of targeted hits against senior figures in the European defence-industrial complex. 

Of course, there always needs to be caution when hearing any such reports, which so far are coming from carefully-framed leaks to the usual news services rather than official statements. Nonetheless, although the usual caveat applies – that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence – for now it would be foolish and dangerous to discount them.