Rheinmetall assassination plan: Why is the company a target?

On Wednesday, the US news channel CNN reported that earlier this year Russia's government had been planning to assassinate the business executive of a major German arms manufacturer — presumably to discourage the further production of weapons and military vehicles to be delivered to Ukraine. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, the German government has supplied €5.2 billion ($5.7 billion) worth of military equipment to Ukraine, according to an official statement.

The target, Armin Papperger, 61, is the CEO of Rheinmetall, a publicly traded company specialized in automotive and arms manufacturing. Ranked as one of...