Germany arrests woman suspected of spying for Russia

German authorities have arrested a woman on suspicion of spying for a Russian intelligence agency and transmitting information related to the war in Ukraine, prosecutors said Wednesday.

The German-Ukrainian national, placed in police custody in Berlin, would have been in contact with an intermediary from the Russian embassy in the German capital who worked for a Russian intelligence service, according to the federal prosecutor’s office.

Since November 2023 at the latest, the suspect has repeatedly provided the contact with “information relating to the war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine”, Germany’s top law enforcement agency said in a statement.

Specifically, the woman is accused of collecting information about participants in “high-profile political events” as well as “information about arms industry sites, drone tests and planned drone deliveries to Ukraine.”

To this end, she also contacted former employees of the German Defense Ministry “whom she knew personally.”

Police searched several properties linked to the woman as well as addresses linked to two other suspects in the case in the state of Brandenburg, on the outskirts of Berlin, as well as in Munich and western Germany.

According to military sources, investigators are also investigating two former members of the German armed forces: a recently retired general staff officer and a senior official who left the Bundeswehr more than 15 years ago.

The two men are suspected of having “disclosed official information to an accused intermediary who allegedly acted on behalf of Russian intelligence services and was arrested today”, sources told dpa.

The German-Ukrainian national also allegedly helped her embassy contact attend political events in Berlin under a pseudonym in order to establish relevant contacts with the secret service.

The woman must be presented before a magistrate of the Federal Court of Justice who will decide on possible pre-trial detention.