A former military man who may be a Russian spy is on trial in Germany

A former reserve forces officer is on trial in Germany. He is accused of spying for Russia.

Reuters writes about it.

According to prosecutors, the suspect, named Ralf, whose last name has not been released due to German privacy laws, provided Russian agents with "numerous documents and information" about the German military between October 2014 and March 2020. At that time, he was the deputy commander of the detachment.

"We believe the accused was in contact with Russian intelligence service GRU via several persons, particularly at the Russian Embassy in Berlin," said federal prosecutor Gerd Kaiser.

German federal prosecutors accused the former officer of leaking information about Nord Stream 2 to Russian agents, as well as informing the Russians about Germanyʼs reserve forces and civil defense. The prosecutorʼs office claims that thanks to the suspect, the Russian special services learned the personal and contact details of high-ranking military officers and managers of well-known companies.

According to the indictment, the defendant helped his Russian supervisors understand the defense policy of the United States and its NATO partners.

"We could not find evidence that he was paid for these deliveries. It was just striking that he repeatedly received invitations to official Russian events," the prosecutor noted.

Neither the defendant nor his lawyer commented on the progress of the case.

• In June, the head of Britainʼs Foreign Intelligence Service said Russia had lost half of its spying capabilities in Europe after more than 400 Russian intelligence officers were expelled and several undercover agents posing as civilians were arrested.