A German court sentenced a Russian man to five years and four months in prison for attempting to set fire to a Russian news agency in Berlin.
The Berlin Regional Court found the 56-year-old guilty of charges including attempted murder and attempted arson, which could have led to death.
According to the court, in 2022, the man planted an incendiary device in the basement shaft of a multi-family residential building in the Berlin-Steglitz area, which housed employees from the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
The device was discovered days later in the basement shaft and was defused by experts from the Berlin State Criminal Office.
The Russian, who has been living in Germany for decades and is known in Berlin for organizing protests against the Russian war on Ukraine, denied the charges.
He claimed to be the victim of a conspiracy and stated during the 11-month trial that he intended to fight Russian President Vladimir Putin “only by legal means.”
In June, the German government blocked the European sanctions package against Russia aimed at strengthening control over operations that bypass restrictive measures, which also pertain to the export of Russian natural gas.
According to the German news agency, citing diplomatic sources in Brussels, the crucial reason for the lack of agreement on the sanctions package lies in “doubts and a desire to make amendments” from Berlin.
The agency quoted its sources as saying that recently, there is a feeling that Germany has become “the new Hungary” in terms of preventing consensus on imposing sanctions against Russia.
