Special forces raided the Cologne apartment of a couple at the centre of the dissemination of pro-Russian propaganda on Monday, August 21st. The couple was suspected of violating weapons laws and being in possession of a Kalashnikov machine gun.
Elena Kolbasnikova and her partner Max Schlund are both well-known activists previously targeted by media outlets for their fundraising efforts in aid of the Russian war effort in Ukraine as well as their vocal anti-NATO sympathies.
Senior Public Prosecutor Ulf Willuhn confirmed that the couple’s Cologne apartment had been raided by police and claimed that authorities were examining whether or not an alleged weapon that was seized is in fact genuine or just a dummy. Anti-war blogs closely associated with the couple have stated that Schlund was injured in the raid, which they claim was motivated by “Russophobia” and an attempt to criminalise “peace activists.”
Neither Kolbasnikova nor Schlund have made any public statements on their social media accounts since the raid, with their lawyer Markus Beisich confirming that Schlund had indeed received bruising when German special forces stormed the apartment.
Both Kolbasnikova and Schlund have been prominent in numerous anti-NATO demonstrations in Germany, most recently on the Sunday before the morning raid, where they led a 40-car motorcade through the city brandishing Russian flags. Authorities have been keen to stress that the couple’s participation in the pro-Russian demonstration had nothing to do with the arrests.
Despite EU sanctions, the pair received heavy criticism in January for publicly handing the sum of €540 to the Russian army’s 42nd Motorised Rifle Division, currently in combat in Ukraine, for the purchase of non-lethal equipment such as walkie-talkies.
The two argue for the cessation of German support for Kyiv, warning that Berlin has become an essential “vassal” of the United States, and have organised multiple high-profile rallies supportive of the Russian army since the invasion commenced in February 2022.
Kolbasnikova, who is of Ukrainian heritage, had previously been fired from her nursing job due to her dissident views and had travelled to Moscow courtesy of the Kremlin-funded Rossotrudnichestvo cultural agency to attend a conference addressed by President Putin, according to an investigation by the news agency Reuters.
While there is no confirmation of the authenticity of the weapon, multiple raids by German police in December last year earned harsh criticism for exaggerating armaments found in what authorities had claimed was the preparation for a Russian-backed coup.
Across the board, Berlin is conducting a clampdown on anti-war opposition, epitomised by the growing state harassment of the populist AfD, which has surged to second place according to most opinion polls and has shifted towards the anti-NATO Right in recent months.
The surveillance of domestic dissidents in Germany is conducted by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), with many intelligence pundits, including the former head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service Hans-Georg Maassen, now himself under investigation by the agency, warning that it has become overly politicised in an attempt to snuff out dissent.
