Police in Germany have arrested a navy officer suspected of passing categorized data to Russian intelligence. The officer is the third German in lower than a yr to allegedly perform espionage for the Kremlin.
The person, a navy procurement specialist recognized as Thomas H. was detained within the western metropolis of Koblenz on Wednesday, the German federal prosecutor’s workplace stated in a press release.
“The Federal Public Prosecutor at this time arrested a German officer who’s strongly suspected of getting labored for a overseas secret service,” Justice Minister Marco Buschmann wrote on X, previously generally known as Twitter. “Thanks to everybody who was concerned. Vigilance stays the order of the day.”
In accordance with the prosecutor’s assertion, the person approached the Russian consulate in Bonn and the embassy in Berlin a number of instances starting in Could, “providing his cooperation.” Prosecutors claimed that he handed over data from his office on one event, understanding that it will be handed on to Russian brokers.
The prosecutor’s workplace didn’t elaborate on the character of the knowledge, or whether or not it had been obtained by any Russian safety or intelligence businesses.
German officers have repeatedly warned of heightened Russian espionage exercise within the midst of the Ukraine battle. Berlin expelled 40 Russian diplomats final April, accusing them of being spies. The Russian International Ministry referred to as the allegations unacceptable and responded by expelling 40 German diplomats from Russia.
The arrest of Thomas H comes simply eight months after police arrested an worker of the nation’s overseas intelligence service (BND) and charged him with treason for leaking state secrets and techniques to Moscow. The double agent was additionally accused of forwarding categorized data to the CIA, and sentenced to eight years in jail. His alleged confederate, a civilian, was arrested in January and accused of serving to his colleague move paperwork to the Kremlin.
Prior to those two circumstances, Germany’s cybersecurity chief was fired in October over media reviews linking him to members of Russian intelligence providers, whereas in November, a military reserve officer was discovered responsible of leaking navy personnel information and cybersecurity data to Moscow between 2014 to 2020.
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