A court in the German city of Düsseldorf sentenced 54-year-old Thomas G., a former officer of the German armed forces (Bundeswehr), to 3.5 years in prison, who confessed to spying for the Putin regime.
This is reported by Bild.
The person convicted of espionage cited "fear of nuclear escalation of the war in Ukraine" as his motive. According to the defendant, he wanted to protect his homeland from a nuclear threat.
The latest push to offer cooperation to the Russians was the corresponding message "probably on TikTok." At that time, Thomas G. was following a pro-Russian blogger associated with the far-right Alternative for Germany party on social media.
After that, the former Bundeswehr officer contacted the Russian embassy in Berlin and the consulate in Bonn several times from May 2023, offered cooperation, collected the necessary information from official sources and passed it on to Russian intelligence.
At that time, Thomas G. worked in the Bundeswehr procurement department in the city of Koblenz. This department is responsible, in particular, for equipping the Bundeswehr with weapons, as well as for the development, testing and procurement of military equipment.
The German prosecutorʼs office announced the arrest of Thomas G. back in August of last year.