Germany charges 3rd Ukrainian over Russia-linked parcel bomb plot

German prosecutors have charged a third suspect over planning a foiled parcel bombing plot on behalf of Russian intelligence, the Federal Public Prosecutors' Office said on Monday, reported dpa.

Three Ukrainian men were arrested at separate locations in Germany and Switzerland in May. They are accused of having sent parcels containing GPS tracking devices from Cologne to Ukraine to test potential routes ahead of the planned attacks.

Federal prosecutors in Karlsruhe said the plan was to mail packages containing explosive devices that "ignite in Germany or elsewhere on their way to parts of Ukraine not occupied by Russia" to cause "as much damage as possible in order to undermine the population's sense of security."

Two of the suspects arrested in Germany were charged in January with acting as secret agents, acting as agents for the purpose of sabotage and conspiring to commit aggravated arson.

The third suspect was arrested in Switzerland and extradited to Germany in December, where all three men are in pre-trial detention.

Prosecutors believe the man received the order for testing potential attack routes from a Russian intelligence service via intermediaries in the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol, according to the charges brought at the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court.

He then recruited the other two men and procured the GPS trackers and other materials. "He also promised his contacts in the Russian intelligence service that he would also take care of sending packages containing incendiary devices," according to the indictment.