British embassy employee arrested in Berlin on charges of spying on Russia | abroad

The embassy employee was arrested Tuesday evening in Potsdam, in the southwestern part of the German capital. There is a reasonable suspicion of guilt against the man of British nationality. This means that there is ample reason to suspect that he is spying. His arrest, which included a search of his home and workplace, was the result of a joint investigation by German and British authorities.

The suspect is said to have handed over documents at least once to a “representative of a Russian intelligence service”. It will be the information he obtained while on the job and was handed over in November 2020. It is still unclear how much money X received for it. Further investigation should show whether he has been in contact with the Russians for a long time and pass on more information. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office describes him as a “local employee” of the embassy.

The latter means that he does not have a diplomatic rank, but that does not mean that S. did not have access to classified information. Intelligence agencies also take care of people in simple jobs such as typists who can access classified documents on the job, and reports Daily mirror.

The newspaper reported that the case of David S. Put a strain on German-Russian relations. In June, a Russian employee at the university’s Materials Research Institute in Augsburg was arrested on suspicion of espionage. Eleanor N. worked. The 29-year-old is in a department researching hybrid materials and technologies used, among other things, in the development of aircraft and lightweight vehicles. There is also a reasonable presumption of guilt against him.

He is said to have met at least three times with a member of a Russian foreign intelligence service between October 2020 and June 2021. In at least two of these meetings, he is said to have handed over research information from the university for a fee. The information has not been classified as confidential, but has not been published. According to public broadcaster ZDF, the Russian has always received “small” sums of money amounting to a few hundred euros and has now admitted that he met the “contact person” more often.

In December 2019, the German government expelled two Russian Military Intelligence employees. They were stationed at the Russian Embassy in Berlin. The masterminds of espionage are usually Secret Service agents who operate out of embassies or consulates. “The espionage activities of the Russian intelligence services depend mainly on legal personnel who are supposed to work as diplomats in official diplomatic and consular missions,” he said. daily mirror From the 2020 annual report of the German Federal Security Service (BfV).

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