Trial of a German military officer accused of spying for Russia

A German military officer accused of espionage for providing information to Russian intelligence went on trial, the State Tax Administration reported.

Prosecutors allege that the defendant, who is identified only as Thomas H. due to strict German privacy laws, passed information to Russian intelligence on his own initiative, DPA reported.

The investigation has no indication that he received money for this. Details of what information he may have passed on have not been disclosed.

The accused, who holds the rank of captain, worked for the Bundeswehr Federal Office for Technology, Information Technology, and Service Support (BAAINBw).

The institution, based in Koblenz, is responsible for equipping the German armed forces with equipment and weapons, as well as for the development, testing, and procurement of defense technologies.

He was arrested in Koblenz in 2023, and his home and workplace were searched. The prosecutor’s office filed charges in March of this year.

In December 2022, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office of Germany arrested Carsten L., an employee of the Federal Intelligence Service of Germany, on suspicion of treason. The man is suspected of spying for Russia.

His accomplice, Arthur E., was arrested in January. He was performing courier work between an intelligence officer and Russian special services. Later, it was reported that Russia could receive classified information about the situation in Ukraine through the detained intelligence officer.

In 2023, a suspected Russian spy in Germany’s Federal Intelligence Agency (BND) was disclosed. The German media reported that this suspected agent was assigned to get sensitive data about the Ukrainian army and help Russia in the war.

In particular, the Russian secret service FSB attempted to get data on the location of Ukrainian army artillery and air defense locations via a BND employee who has since been arrested.

The FSB directed the BND agent to gather and send GPS data from the US-supplied HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems and the Berlin-supplied IRIS-T air defense system.

Last March, Austria was hit by its biggest espionage scandal in decades, as the arrest of a former intelligence officer reveals evidence of extensive Russian spy infiltration.

The scandal erupted with the arrest on March 29 of former intelligence officer Egisto Ott, accused of, among other things, passing on the cell phone data of former high-ranking Austrian officials to the Russian secret services and helping to plan a robbery of a journalist’s apartment.

Austria has uncovered the biggest espionage case following an investigation by the German weekly Der Spiegel and the independent Russian website The Insider.