德国两处电网设施连续遭疑似破坏，RWE部分燃煤机组短暂停机

Attacks on Germany's power grid that appeared aimed at causing widespread blackouts occurred on two consecutive days, prompting investigators to examine whether left-wing extremists or a foreign intelligence service carried out acts of sabotage.
An explosion and transmission-line failure struck an Amprion substation in Bergheim, in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, at about 8 p.m. local time on the 1st, according to the daily Tagesspiegel. RWE, the energy company that operates several coal-fired power plants nearby, said five facilities were damaged and 4,200 megawatts of generating capacity was cut off from the grid. Herbert Reul, the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, said an unidentified perpetrator deliberately caused a short circuit and that the case is being treated as suspected anti-constitutional sabotage.
Earlier the same day, dozens of firework-style explosive devices were found at a substation in Turnow-Preilack in the eastern state of Brandenburg. Some detonated before authorities could dismantle them, disrupting transmission. Brandenburg Interior Minister Jan Redmann called the incident sabotage, saying the aim was to insert conductive material into high-voltage transmission lines to trigger short circuits and power outages.
Germany has seen repeated cases of grid damage and arson targeting sites including a Tesla electric-vehicle plant, with far-left groups claiming responsibility for most of them. Redmann said, however, that the method used in these latest cases differs from tactics previously attributed to far-left groups and that no group has yet claimed responsibility, adding that the possibility of foreign involvement cannot be ruled out.
The German government has been escalating its response to hybrid tactics by foreign intelligence services, including retaliatory measures taken after it identified Russia as being behind explosive-laden drones that appeared over Leipzig-Halle Airport early last month. The daily Süddeutsche Zeitung raised the scenario that the grid attacks could be a Russian hybrid operation staged to look like the work of far-left groups.
Federal prosecutors identified two suspects, one Russian and one Belarusian, who took part directly in the drone operation and traced their movements before and after the incident, leading them to point to Russia as the sponsor, according to reports.
The Russian suspect entered Germany in late July on a Latvian passport and left two days before the drones were found, according to Süddeutsche Zeitung and public broadcaster ARD. Local media reported that the Belarusian suspect appears to have entered the Schengen area on an Italian tourist visa.
Prosecutors confirmed that DNA traces left by the second suspect on the drones and control equipment matched one of the DNA samples collected from a July 2024 fire involving a DHL air parcel in Leipzig, according to reports. Investigators suspect that the parcel fires, which occurred simultaneously in several European locations at the time, were also carried out by local operatives hired by Russian intelligence.