German secret services have warned the country’s parliament about the possibility that Russia could launch a nuclear strike on Ukraine.

According to the magazine Der Spiegel, there was also information about the Russian secret services that “might carry out political assassinations on German soil”.

The head of Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND), Bruno Kahl, and the head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Thomas Haldenwang, made statements to the German parliament, which meets once a year in public to hear assessments of the current status from intelligence chiefs.

The BfV chief said the war in Ukraine has “changed the rules of the game” in all areas of politics and poses a direct threat to Germany’s homeland security. Haldenwang said that 40 Russian spies were deported from Germany in April, “but that’s not all.”

As the head of the BfV claims “the operational level of the Russian intelligence services in Germany has decreased”, and the BfV has worked out scenarios for the possibility that the Russian intelligence services would organise political assassinations on German soil.

Kahl warned the German parliament that Putin might use “tactical nuclear weapons”. In the opinion of the head of the BND, the Russian government may try to impose peace on Ukraine on unfavourable terms. From the Russian side there is no sign of compromise, he claims.

His statements are only conjecture. The BND has no evidence to show that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons, Spiegel magazine clarifies.