A government official has been arrested in Germany and is accused of secretly passing information to Russia, but the person’s identity has not been disclosed writes the BBC.
According to German data protection law, the man is being identified only as Thomas H. The suspect worked in a department related to military equipment and information technology.
On his own initiative, Thomas H went to the Russian embassy in Berlin and the consulate in Bonn to offer his services. The man appeared before the judge on Wednesday, the 9th of August, and will remain in custody.
German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann wrote on X (Twitter) that the federal prosecutor has arrested a government official who is being held on suspicion of spying for Russia. Buschmann added that a high level of vigilance is being maintained.
The prosecutor’s office has informed that
the man used the information obtained at work with the intention of passing it on to the Russian intelligence services.
Thomas H was arrested at his home.
The arrest took place after the German security agency warned in June of a high risk of espionage by Moscow. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, several Germans have been arrested. In January, a man was arrested and accused of being involved in a secret information transfer scheme. He is believed to be related to an employee of the German Foreign Intelligence Service, who was arrested last December.