Searches were conducted in Germany in connection with the gas sabotage by Russia

The German Federal Prosecutor’s Office conducted a series of large-scale raids in Berlin and Frankfurt am Main as part of an investigation into an attempt by the Russian Federation to sabotage the country’s energy system in 2022. The investigation targeted the premises of the main suspect—a Russian citizen—as well as the offices of Gazprom Germania GmbH, a company that was previously owned by the Russian monopoly Gazprom. 

The case concerns events in the spring of 2022, when the Russian side attempted to secretly remove the German subsidiary from its structure by transferring the shares to a fictitious Moscow-based firm that had no connection to the energy sector. Immediately afterward, the new nominal owner issued an order for the company’s complete liquidation. Investigators have reasonable grounds to suspect that the sale and attempted liquidation of Gazprom Germania were intended to artificially disrupt the stable supply of gas to Germany, since at that time this entity controlled at least 25% of the country’s total underground gas storage capacity.

The scheme was carried out without the required approval from the German Ministry of Economics, which directly violates German foreign trade legislation. At the time, a large-scale crisis was averted only thanks to the emergency intervention of the German government, which placed the facilities under external trusteeship and subsequently fully nationalized the assets, renaming the company SEFE (Securing Energy for Europe). Currently, the Russian suspect is charged with aiding unconstitutional subversion and violating investment regulations, which, under the German Criminal Code, carries a penalty of up to life imprisonment. No arrests have been made in this case yet; a detailed analysis of the documents and digital media seized during the searches is currently underway.

This information is available on the German Public Prosecutor’s Office website.

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