INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The Russian embassy in Berlin on Wednesday denied maintaining links to far-right terror groups in Germany after a Russian woman was among 25
people arrested in a series of police raids over a suspected plot to overthrow the government."The Russian Embassy in Germany would like to
make clear that Russian diplomatic and consular offices in Germany do not maintain contacts with representatives of terrorist groups or
other illegal entities," the Berlin embassy said in a statement that was carried by Russian news agencies.German prosecutors confirmed the
facilitating attempts to make contact between a terrorist cell and Russian officials, though they added that there was "no indication" that
the attempts had been successful.The Kremlin described the arrests as a "German domestic issue" on Wednesday."This is rather an internal
They themselves have stated that there can be no discussion of any kind of Russian intervention," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told
journalists.The nationwide raids carried out by German police on Wednesday morning led to the arrests of 25 people suspected of belonging to
a far-right terror cell plotting to overthrow the government.Around 3,000 officers including elite anti-terror units took part in the dawn
raids targeted alleged members of the "Reich Citizens" (Reichsbuerger) movement suspected of "having made concrete preparations to violently
force their way into the German parliament with a small armed group," according to federal prosecutors.Those arrested are believed to have
formed a terrorist group "which had set itself the goal of overthrowing the existing state order in Germany and replacing it with their
own," the prosecutors added.The Reichsbuerger, a far-right grouping known to have links to anti-Semitic, racist, and neo-Nazi movements,
reject the legitimacy of the German Federal Republic and argue that the German Reich remains in existence today
AFP contributed reporting.
