A member of Germany’s went on trial in the western city of Düsseldorf on Monday, on behalf of 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 .
What are the accusations against him?
The defendant is accused of making repeated and unsolicited offers to cooperate, starting in May 2023, at both Russia’s consulate in and its embassy in .
He allegedly already provided some sensitive information during these meetings.
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.
Prosecutors say there’s no evidence of him receiving payment.
What did he tell the court?
The 54-year-old man said that the accusations against him were “broadly” accurate.
Content he saw “presumably on TikTok” had prompted him to contact the Russian consulate. He said he had followed on TikTok a pro-Russian influencer affiliated with , although he wasn’t sure which content it was.
According to his account, he was concerned about his family’s safety in the event of a nuclear attack. The officer said he therefore sought contact with Russian authorities to get a heads up on “when it was going to go off.”
“I only saw this way,” he told the court.
The officer added that he regretted his action and that he was in a bad mental state at the time.
The man, with a rank of captain, had worked at the Bundeswehr’s equipment, technology and in-service support facility in Koblenz.
The facility is responsible for equipping Germany’s armed forces, as well as for developing, testing and procuring new equipment and technology.
Around the same time as his cooperation with Russian authorities, he had also applied for membership with the AfD. The court said his application was authorized in July 2023.
Bundeswehr and military tech in sharp focus since invasion of Ukraine
in February 2022 had major and mixed impacts on Germany and its armed forces.
It prompted probably , after similar plans from previous governments yielded few results.
But it also threw a fresh spotlight on .
And rapidly the question of began to dominate headlines at home, and sometimes abroad.
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.
fb, msh/wd (AFP, dpa)
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