Espionage: Suspected Russia spy in custody

A Ukrainian is said to have collected military-relevant information for Russia. The suspected agent has now been brought before an investigating judge in Karlsruhe.

Karlsruhe. After a suspected Russian spy was arrested in Brandenburg, the suspect is in custody. An investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe executed the arrest warrant against the Ukrainian, as the Federal Prosecutor's Office announced. The Karlsruhe authorities accuse him of being a secret service agent.

Officials from the Federal Criminal Police Office arrested the man in Eisenhüttenstadt on Thursday. He is said to have collected military-relevant information for a Russian intelligence service and used contacts in the European arms industry to do so. According to the Federal Prosecutor's Office, it was about information about the production of tanks, ammunition and explosives as well as military locations to secure NATO's eastern flank.

Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz had rated the arrest the day before as a success, but at the same time warned against further espionage operations: “We will probably see such cases more often in the next few months and years,” said the CDU politician on the sidelines of the Western Balkans summit in Montenegro.

This year alone, several suspected spies who are said to have worked on behalf of Russian secret services have been caught in Germany.