Is Russia winning its hybrid war against Germany?

Photo by 4zyxxn on Unsplash

Dear Reader,

The first thing to say about Swiftair Flight 5960, the cargo jet that was supposed to land in Vilnius after taking off from Leipzig Airport on Monday morning, is that we don’t yet have definitive answers on why it crashed.

We know that the Boeing-built jet hit the ground a kilometre short of the runway, and that it erupted in a fireball seconds later. Miraculously, three of the four crew members survived.

Why it crashed in normal conditions remains a mystery... at least publicly.

German investigators have now been sent to Vilnius to assist their Lithuanian colleagues in the investigation.

However, it is already apparent that the German defence establishment suspects foul play. Carsten Breuer, head of the German armed forces, said on Tuesday that the crash “fits into a pattern” of previous Russian sabotage attempts.

He was referring to a package that caught fire at Leipzig Airport, the main cargo hub for central Europe, after arriving in a shipment fro…