In February 2025, German authorities assessed that a collection of car vandalism incidents occurring across Germany were part of a Russian-backed sabotage campaign aimed at destabilizing the nation before its elections. According to Spiegel, over 270 vehicles were vandalized across Berlin, Brandenburg, Bavaria and Badden-Wurttemberg. Construction foam was found sprayed onto the vehicles’ exhaust pipes and, in an attempt to divert attention, the vandalizers placed ecological stickers on the cars to place blame on climate activist groups. Prosecutors from Ulm, a city in the South of Germany, identified four individuals including a German, a Serb, a Romanian and a Bosnian, as potential suspects. One of the suspects claimed that they had been promised about USD $104 per vandalized car by a Russian user over the Viber chat-app. Local authorities warned that Russian sabotage campaigns were likely to continue until the elections.