German police records hundreds of sabotage acts against critical infrastructure including energy

German police recorded hundreds of sabotage acts against critical infrastructure including energy last year, reported public broadcaster ARD. The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) registered 321 cases in 2025, some of which have been linked to Russian interference, according to a report seen by the broadcaster. 

In the first weeks of 2026, federal police agency BKA already registered several alleged acts of sabotage as well, with a prolonged outage in Berlin in early January fuelling a countrywide debate about the energy system’s security. Other cases at the start of the year involved a transformer station and a wind turbine, according to the article. 

Germany’s parliament adopted a government proposal aimed at improving the protection of critical infrastructure against disasters and physical or cyber attacks at the end of January, implementing an EU guideline that was issued in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The so-called "KRITIS umbrella law" introduces more security requirements for companies and government agencies that are responsible for critical infrastructure, such as electricity and water supply. It also requires them to directly report security-related incidents, and includes fines for non-compliance. The law still needs to go through the states’ council in March, where it needs to be formally accepted.

Industry and municipal energy suppliers generally welcomed the law, but also criticised it for not adequately addressing certain risks. Municipal utility group VKU said the agreement marked “an important step” for the protection of critical infrastructure as energy, water, and telecommunication providers needed legal and planning security for investments. However, the association also emphasised that more concrete action is required, such as assigning critical infrastructure protection an overriding public interest status, and presenting an overarching national strategy and risk assessment.

Industry association BDI also said the law was a step in the right direction, but failed to provide specific measures to match the “actual threat level.” The industry group mentions that the room for Germany’s states to decide for themselves what parts of their infrastructure are critical could lead to different standards and distort competition, since companies lack planning security regarding which kind of safety investments are required.