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BBC reported on September 1st that “Germany has said Russia was responsible for last month’s drone attack at Leipzig’s airport. A drone carrying an explosive device was discovered at Leipzig/Halle Airport in eastern Germany, close to Ukrainian cargo planes, on 4 August. It failed to explode as the detonator was apparently faulty, and investigators suspect a second drone collided with a cargo aircraft nearby. A third drone was reportedly found near the airport 10 days later. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the Leipzig airport attack followed the “well-established pattern of Russian hybrid operations in Europe” and the assumption was that Germany would be targeted again. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday accused Germany of planting evidence to blame Moscow for the attempted drone attack at Leipzig airport. Putin did not provide evidence for the accusation. Meanwhile, the Russian embassy in Berlin said the allegation that Russia was responsible was “absurd”. Dobrindt said examination of the equipment used along with intelligence findings proved Russian involvement in the attack. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, who was standing beside Dobrindt at a press conference in Berlin, said he would order the closure of the Russian consulate in Bonn, and the contract for the Russian House in Berlin will also be terminated — which many observers have said has been used for espionage and to spread Russian propaganda. He also announced tighter entry controls for Russian nationals and vowed to increase pressure on Moscow’s shadow fleet — old tankers used by Russia to circumvent Western sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Wadephul said he had summoned Russia’s ambassador to Germany, Sergei Nechayev. He was seen arriving at the foreign ministry shortly after the announcement. Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for Russia’s foreign ministry, said Moscow would respond in a “mirror-image” fashion to Germany’s measures while the Russian embassy described the measures as an “unprecedented escalation in Russian-German relations”. “Berlin is sponsoring terrorism”, Zakharova told the German Press Agency in reference to its military and economic support provided to Ukraine. There have been previous suggestions that the Goethe-Institut in Moscow would have to cease operations if the Germans went through with closing Russian House.”

Reuters reported on August 25th that “a Ukrainian man detained in Romania for setting up a stash of guns and ammunition near Berlin ​is suspected by investigators of being part of a ‌Russian-controlled agent network, Spiegel magazine reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources. Germany’s interior minister said last week that German authorities were discussing the man’s possible extradition from ​Romania. Spiegel cited Polish investigation files as saying that a ​24-year-old Ukrainian took a bus from Poland to Berlin on ⁠October 1 last year and picked up two parcels with ​handguns from a roadside in the east of Berlin to then ​hide them in the underground depot near a lake in the capital’s southeast. According to the report, he took a bus back to Poland but was ​later detained in Bucharest alongside another Ukrainian on suspicion of dispatching ​parcels with incendiary devices with Ukrainian express delivery service Nova Post. Spiegel cited Romanian ‌intelligence ⁠services as saying the two suspects belong to a network of saboteurs controlled by Russian state services targeting European countries. The Russian embassy in Berlin did not immediately respond to a request for ​comment. German federal ​prosecutors declined to ⁠comment and the Polish internal security agency and the state prosecutor’s office also did not immediately ​reply.”

Al Jazeera reported on August 9th that “Germany is facing daily “hybrid warfare” attacks from abroad, an official has said, days after an explosive-laden drone was discovered at Leipzig/Halle Airport. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told the local newspaper Bild am Sonntag on Sunday that foreign powers wanted to subdue Germany politically and socially by stirring up fear. “We’re not at war, but we are the daily target of hybrid warfare,” Dobrindt said. “Espionage, sabotage, cyberattacks, or covert operations by foreign powers aimed at destabilising Germany or inflicting direct harm are a constant reality.” He did not identify any countries behind the alleged attacks. The minister’s comments come after a drone loaded ‌with explosives was discovered at the Leipzig/Halle Airport in eastern Germany on Tuesday. Some German lawmakers pointed the finger at Russia, which has been at war with Ukraine since its full-scale invasion of the country in 2022. The Russian embassy in Berlin on Friday dismissed the Leipzig event as a “fabricated provocation”, saying it was another example of unsubstantiated accusations against Moscow.”

The Insider reported on June 16th that “self-exiled anti-Putin artist Semyon Skrepetsky (real name Robert Kuzovkov), whose equal opportunity caricatures also made fun of the Russian opposition , was shot and killed on June 15 in the Polish city of Biała Podlaska, according to a report by local outlet Podlaski.info. The shooting took place at around 10 a.m. local time in a parking lot. On June 12, Russia Day, Skrepetsky staged what turned out to be his final performance . Outside the Russian Embassy in Berlin, he pulled a Russian flag from a slit in the back of his pants and threw it into a trash bin. He then walked near the embassy with a painting showing Stalin holding an infant Putin. Skrepetsky wore bast shoes (traditional Russian peasant footwear made of woven bark), an ushanka fur hat, and an orange-and-black St. George’s ribbon (a Russian military symbol that has become associated with pro-Kremlin support for the war against Ukraine). Three days later, around an hour before he was killed, Skrepetsky wrote on his Telegram channel that the protest in Berlin had “really pleased Russian patriots,” who responded with threats of sexual assault. The satirist posted a screenshot of a comment that read: “Kadyrov will personally rape you on Putin’s orders after the war. And finding you is a six-second job. So, get ready. By the way, don’t forget the lube.” Skrepetsky was a Russian artist, blogger, and political émigré who relocated to Poland in 2021. In his artwork and public actions, he mocked Vladimir Putin, the Russian authorities, and the war against Ukraine. He also took part in protests against the Belarusian regime of Alexander Lukashenko.”

Global Banking and Finance reported on January 21st that “German prosecutors on Wednesday arrested a German-Ukranian woman accused of spying for Russia by gathering information on drones meant for Ukraine at political events and through befriending former defence ministry staff, according to a statement. Ilona W, whose surname was not shared due to German privacy laws, is accused of maintaining intelligence contacts with the Russian embassy in Berlin since at least November 2023. Security services across Europe have warned of a growing threat from Russian intelligence agencies seeking to deter Western powers from backing Ukraine against Russia’s full-scale invasion launched in February 2022. Prosecutors said the suspect compiled dossiers on participants at political events and gathered details about defence industry sites, drone tests and planned drone deliveries to Ukraine. She then passed this information to her handler, identified as working for the Russian intelligence services. On occasion, Ilona W helped her contact attend political events in Berlin under aliases in order to establish links useful to the intelligence service, prosecutors said. The Russian embassy in Berlin did not respond to an emailed request for comment and calls were immediately dropped. Ilona W also approached former defence ministry employees she knew personally as part of her information‑gathering efforts. Prosecutors searched her home on Wednesday as well as those of two other suspects who were not arrested.”

BBC reported on May 27th that “a German military officer has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for spying for Russia. The man, identified only as Thomas H, had been a captain in the army’s procurement office when he contacted Russian embassy in Berlin and passed on secret military information. German police arrested him in the city of Koblenz in August and accused him of sharing photographs of munitions training systems and aircraft technology. The 54-year-old admitted to a Düsseldorf court on Monday to passing information to Russia, saying it was a “stupid idea” and that he regretted his actions. “It is the biggest mess I have ever made in my life,” he told the court. Prosecutors said the man approached the Russian embassy in Berlin and the consulate in Bonn unprompted and “almost persistently offered himself to Russia”. They said he photographed sensitive military files and dropped information through a letterbox at the consulate building in Bonn. In a closing statement, the man said he had contacted the embassy after becoming concerned about the risk of nuclear war driven by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He added that he was especially concerned that Germany’s supply of heavy weapons to Ukraine could draw it into the conflict. According to government figures, Berlin supplied about €6.6bn (£5.62bn) worth of military hardware to Ukraine in 2022 and 2023. This included 40 Leopard 1 tanks and 100 infantry fighting vehicles. The man claimed that chronic overwork had impaired his ability to think critically about his actions. His lawyer said he had been influenced by a stream of pro-Russian propaganda and disinformation that he had been consuming on TikTok and Telegram at the time. He noted that his client had also joined the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. He added that the decision came during a four-day period “in which [his client] crossed red lines”. While prosecutors said the leaks had revealed sensitive military information, they noted that he had not disclosed state secrets, an act which would have attracted a much heavier lifetime sentence. The trial comes as a slew of Russian spy affairs have hit headlines in Germany.”

Firstpost reported on April 29th that “as Berlin deals with an increase in Moscow-related espionage cases amid the conflict in Ukraine, a former soldier from Germany will go on trial on Monday on charges of spying for Russia. According to German privacy rules, the suspect — who was only given the name Thomas H. — was taken into custody in August of last year in the western city of Koblenz. He is charged with providing Russian intelligence agencies with information he learned while serving in the Bundeswehr, the German military’s procurement branch. Germany is Kyiv’s second-largest military aid provider, and since Russia invaded the country in early 2022, there has been a spike in reported espionage cases connected to Moscow. Thomas H. had been a career soldier, working at the army’s Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support Department. The department, which has about 12,000 employees, has seen its work increase substantially since the outbreak of the Ukraine war, as Berlin pumps more funds into a wide-ranging overhaul of the Bundeswehr after years of neglect. In May 2023, the suspect “approached the Russian general consulate in Bonn and the Russian embassy in Berlin and offered his cooperation”, prosecutors said in a statement when he was arrested.”

SwissInfo reported on March 19th that “German prosecutors have charged an officer in the military procurement agency with attempting to pass secret information to Russian intelligence, the federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Tuesday. The German national, whom the prosecutor’s office identified only as Thomas H., has been in custody since August. He is accused of repeatedly approaching Russia’s consulate in Bonn and embassy in Berlin from May last year on his own initiative to offer his cooperation. Germany, one of the largest providers of military hardware to Ukraine, is a major target of Russian spying operations, which have grown in scale since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, authorities have warned. On one occasion, Thomas H. handed over information obtained during the course of his work with the intention that it be passed to a Russian intelligence service, the federal prosecutor’s office said. He was arrested in Koblenz, the procurement agency’s seat in western Germany, and his home and workplace were searched. The nature of the information he attempted to pass to Moscow was not specified.”

On October 24th Slobodenpecat reported that “the highest representative of Russia in the EU, Kirill Logvinov, is suspected of espionage, unnamed sources in Brussels told the German News Agency (DPA). Several sources told DPA today that the Belgian secret service VSSE believes that the diplomat Kirill Logvinov, acting in charge of the mission of the Russian Federation in the EU, works not only for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but also for the Russian foreign intelligence. According to his autobiography, Logvinov worked at the Russian Embassy in Berlin from 2010 to 2014. The German magazine “Spiegel” and several other European media wrote about the case today. Suspicions of possible espionage date back to the summer of last year.” Here’s the article from the German Spiegel about this case.

El País reported on August 21st that “when Berlin was divided by its infamous wall, the city was reputed to be the spy capital of the Eastern communist bloc and also of the democratic and capitalist West. This appeared to be condemned to history when the Iron Curtain came down, marking the end of the Cold War. However, the city, which later became the capital of reunified Germany, did not lose its appeal to the secret services. Indeed, eight years ago, the then head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), the country’s counterintelligence services, Hans-Georg Maassen, referred to the city as a modern, active and thriving “espionage capital of Europe.” The city continues to draw agents, most of whom come from Russia. President Vladimir Putin — who in his youth served as a KGB officer in the now defunct German Democratic Republic (GDR) — and his government are keen to understand everything about the assistance Germany has been providing to Ukraine since the Kremlin-ordered invasion on February 24, 2022. Last Wednesday, the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Koblenz announced the arrest of Thomas H., a captain who worked for the German Army’s Office of Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support, the agency in charge of the procurement of armaments and equipment for the Armed Forces. Thomas H., a supporter of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and a sworn friend of Russia, was spotted several times in front of the Russian Embassy in Berlin and in the vicinity. “He seemed insecure, like a shy deer,” said a state security official from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), which is investigating the case in conjunction with the BfV and the Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD). According to the German Prosecutor’s Office, last May Thomas H. supplied information to the Russian Consulate in Bonn and the Moscow Embassy in Berlin. “On one occasion, he transmitted information obtained in the course of his professional activity, with the purpose of having it transferred to a Russian secret service,” the institution reported. The arrest of the German captain triggered a wave of reactions among politicians and intelligence services in Germany, where it is believed that Russian espionage has infiltrated many places. These concerns are not misplaced. A few weeks after the attack on Ukraine began, the Berlin city-state government announced that spies from at least three Russian secret services were operating out of the Russian embassy on the city’s Unter den Linden avenue. These were the successor to the KGB, the Federal Security Service (FSB); the Foreign Intelligence Service (SWR), whose agents passed themselves off as diplomats or journalists; and the Russia’s military intelligence service (GRU). “There must be over 100 spies with diplomatic cover, and a year ago there were almost 150,″ said a Foreign Ministry official, pointing out that his department expelled 40 foreign agents in April 2022. “The entrances to the Russian Embassy in Berlin and the Russian Consulates General in Bonn, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig and Munich are filmed and monitored 24 hours a day by cameras of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution [German counterintelligence].”.”

DW reported on August 9th that “a German man was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of spying for Moscow, federal prosecutors said. He was arrested in the city of Koblenz in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Prosecutors said that the suspect approached the Russian consulate in the city of Bonn in the neighboring state of North Rhine-Westphalia, and also the Russian embassy in Berlin. Justice Minister Marco Buschmann praised prosecutors for their work on the social media platform X, and said the suspect was an officer in the German military “strongly suspected” of working for a foreign secret service. The man, who was identified as Thomas H, had visited the embassy and consulate “on his own initiative” multiple times since May and offered his cooperation, prosecutors said in a statement. He is suspected of providing information on his work for a division of the German military, the Bundeswehr, to the diplomatic missions with the intention of having it be passed on to a Russian secret service. The man worked for the Bundeswehr’s procurement agency, the Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support department. The agency is based in Koblenz, where the man was arrested. The man’s apartment and workplace have been searched by investigators. Investigations were conducted in close coordination with military intelligence and Germany’s domestic security agency, the BfV.”

The German Tagesschau published this article on April 4th saying that “the Russian embassy in Berlin is considered the centre of espionage. A year ago, Germany expelled 40 Russian secret service agents in one fell swoop. More could follow soon. The first rockets had landed in Ukraine just a few hours earlier, when police officers set up barriers around the Russian embassy in Berlin. The police protection for the gigantic building directly on Unter Den Linden had been massively increased — as provided for in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. And yet: Germany’s handling of the embassy and its employees has changed significantly since then. It is now almost exactly a year since Germany officially branded the embassy as the centre of Moscow’s espionage in this country. In April 2022, 40 Russian diplomats were asked to leave the Federal Republic. They are said to have been secret service agents who used diplomatic status to disguise themselves.”

On January 2nd A News reported that “the head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency on Monday warned of mounting activity by Russian secret services. “Russia’s intelligence interest here in Germany is not only unbroken, but is also increasing as the effects of the war continue,” Thomas Haldenwang, the chief of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, said in an interview with the German news agency dpa. “The current case also shows how real the danger of Russian espionage is,” added Haldenwang, alluding to a suspected double agent at the foreign secret service BND, who was arrested shortly before Christmas. The arrested man is accused of having given secret information to a Russian intelligence service. Haldenwang said he expected Moscow to try to make up for the expulsion of 40 Russian officials deemed persona non grata by Germany. In reaction to the start of the Russian war on Ukraine on Feb. 24, many European states expelled Russian agents, with Germany expelling 40 members of the Russian Embassy in Berlin. “We are making great efforts to prevent further people who may be linked to Russian services from coming here to Germany,” said Haldenwang, adding that the German government has tightened visa rules. He also expected a massive increase in Russian cyberattacks and so-called influence operations, including disinformation campaigns and other methods aimed at influencing public opinion, the outcome of elections, or political decisions in the target country.”

Intel News reported on October 10th that “last summer, German embassy staff in Russia issued an entry visa to a Russian national, despite warnings by at least two European security agencies that he was a known intelligence officer, according to a report. The incident has fueled persistent allegations that Berlin’s counterintelligence posture against Russia is ineffective. According to the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel, it was in July of this year when the German Embassy in Moscow received an application for an entry visa to Germany by a Russian national. The application included an official invitation issued to the visa applicant by the Russian Consulate General in the eastern German city of Leipzig. However, the application prompted a strong counterintelligence warning by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany’s domestic security agency. According to Spiegel, at least one more European intelligence agency warned against allowing the Russian national to travel to Western Europe. The reason for the warnings was that the visa applicant was known to operate internationally under diplomatic cover, on behalf of a Russian intelligence agency. The counterintelligence warnings were examined and caused the visa application to be rejected. However, a month later the applicant submitted a second application for an entry visa to Germany. Remarkably, the German embassy approved the second application, after “no longer recogni[zing] any suspicion of espionage” in association with this case. One possible reason, according to Spiegel, was that Russian officials had applied pressure on the German government, asking for a review of the application. When the issue was raised in Berlin, an internal review was launched. It reportedly found that the espionage warnings had been “overlooked due to an [administrative] error”. The visa was thus promptly canceled. Der Spiegel claims it is “possible that the accidental visa issue was related to [Berlin] wanting to show good will to the Russian side”.”

According to news reports, near the Russian Embassy in Berlin, Germany there are facilities belonging to the Bundestag that are getting relocated to other sites. In the recent weeks, “the physical proximity of the deputies’ offices to the Russian embassy has been a problem for the Bundestag administration.” Germany’s domestic intelligence service, the BfV, was asked to comment on the relocations of those facilities but they do not “comment on certain awareness-raising measures.” It was highlighted though that “the risks of espionage are taken into account in existing security measures, including through security checks and awareness-raising.”

Last week (story #46) David Ballantyne Smith, 57, was extradited to the UK. He is accused of being a Russian spy in the British Embassy in Berlin, Germany. This week he appeared at the Westminster Magistrates Court and his trial will start on Feb. 13th 2023. According Germany’s counter-intelligence he was “taking videos of CCTV systems, gathering intelligence on the layout of the embassy, amassing documents marked ‘secret’ and making copies with a view to them being leaked.” The espionage charges also note that he “wrote a letter to General Major Sergey Chukhurov, the military attaché at the Russian Embassy in Germany, containing details about the activities, identities, addresses and telephone numbers of various members of Her Majesty’s Civil Service.”

On Monday it was announced that Germany expelled 40 Russian diplomats from the Russian Embassy in Berlin for “suspected links to spy agencies” and France followed along by expelling 35 Russian diplomats suspicious of being involved in espionage activities.