The officer, with ties to the far-right AfD party, said he provided information to a Russian intelligence service out of fear of a nuclear escalation in Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
A member of Germany’s Bundeswehr went on trial in the western city of Düsseldorf on Monday, charged with espionage activities on behalf of Russia and leaking state secrets.
At the start of the trial, the defendant admitted that he had spied for Russia. He said his actions were driven by a fear of a nuclear escalation amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The officer was arrested on August 9 last year and the charges against him were made public on March 19.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A member of Germany’s Bundeswehr went on trial in the western city of Düsseldorf on Monday, charged with espionage activities on behalf of Russia and leaking state secrets.
According to prosecutors, he also photographed old training documents related to munitions systems and aircraft technology and dropped the material into the letterbox of the Russian consulate in Bonn.
It prompted probably the most serious attempt in years to boost defense spending and military readiness, after similar plans from previous governments yielded few results.
It’s not the only case of alleged espionage on behalf of Russia to come to light since the war broke out, with a former intelligence agency employee facing similar charges in Berlin.
Earlier this year, Russia also released audio excerpts from an online video conference call between senior German military officers discussing the war in Ukraine and what impact new weapons deliveries might have.
*Editor’s note: DW follows the German press code, which stresses the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected criminals or victims and urges us to refrain from revealing full names in such cases.
The original article contains 543 words, the summary contains 177 words. Saved 67%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Of course they have ties to the AfD.
From what I can tell from the outside, it looks like Russia has thoroughly infiltrated AfD from top to bottom.
Just like the Republicans here in the states. A curious correlation.
Now if only our domestic counter-intelligence services would actually do something about that
Every right wing party, in every western democracy, is either benefitting from Russian agitprop, if not taking Russian money directly.
Every. Single. One.
Sounds like the AfD is a Ruzzian tool & should be purged from German society.
They only say that they are the alternative for Germany. Now we know what that alternative is supposed to be.
He said his actions were driven by a fear of a nuclear escalation amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Did he take money for the secrets he was giving? If so, was the money calming his fears about nuclear escalation?
