German defense contractor employee suspended after photo with russian flag and "Z" symbol

The German company Liebherr-Aerospace Lindenberg GmbH, which supplies equipment to the German armed forces, suspended one of its employees after a journalistic investigation into his possible ties to russia. In particular, the man posed with the russian tricolor and the letter "Z" - a symbol of russia's invasion of Ukraine.

This was reported by the Stuttgarter Zeitung.

The journalists found out that in late July the employee visited the russian embassy in Berlin. In addition, in 2022, he was photographed with members of the pro-russian movement "Druzhba" and two flags with the "Z" sign. The photo was published by the Ministry of International and Interregional Relations of the Nizhny Novgorod region of the russian federation.

The man himself explained his actions as a "trip for mutual understanding between peoples" and called the meeting at the embassy a "cultural exchange".

The company noted that it first learned about the employee's possible involvement in pro-russian circles and the "Reichsburger" movement from journalists. Although Liebherr-Aerospace is a supplier to the Bundeswehr, it does not participate in secret projects, so its employees do not undergo special checks. At the same time, the company emphasized that the suspended employee did not have access to strategic or security data.

He is currently suspended from work, and the company is conducting an internal investigation.

As a reminder, Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger said that the pace of construction of the ammunition plant in Ukraine is not progressing as quickly as they would like and blamed the Ukrainian bureaucracy for this.