Suspected Russian double agent facing treason charges in Germany

A German foreign intelligence officer is spending Christmas behind bars after he was remanded in custody, accused of being a double agent spying for Russia.

Prosecutors say the suspect, a German national identified only as Carsten L, is facing treason charges for allegedly leaking classified information to Moscow.

The German federal intelligence service (BND) said prosecutors had carried out searches of two agency offices and the home of its employee on Wednesday.

“After the BND became aware of a possible case of treason within its own ranks in the course of its intelligence work, the BND immediately launched extensive internal investigations,” said BND president Bruno Kahl, insisting that “restraint and discretion are very important” given the claims and the suspect’s alleged paymaster in Moscow.

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“With Russia, we are dealing with an actor on the opposite side whose unscrupulousness and willingness to use violence we must reckon with,” he added. “Every detail of this operation that becomes public means an advantage for this adversary in its intention to harm Germany.”

Several German media outlets reported fears within the agency that a wider network of double agents has been uncovered within the German intelligence service.

It’s eight years since the last known BND double agent was unmasked, but leading German politicians have stepped up their warnings – and checks – in the last months.

“With the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the threat of Russian espionage, disinformation campaigns and cyberattacks has taken on another dimension,” said German interior minister Nancy Faeser.

Last year German police arrested a local staff member of the British embassy in Berlin, accused of being a Russian agent. Months earlier, a Berlin security firm employee was arrested, accused of passing on blueprints of federal government buildings to a Russian military intelligence officer.

In June 2021 an employee at the University of Augsburg was arrested for allegedly passing on to Russia information about Europe’s Ariane missile defence programme.

Russia’s war on Ukraine – and growing interest in Germany – have come as a shock to the BND, prompting scathing criticism from partner western intelligence organisations.

“German agents were being held back by their politicians, who seemed unwilling to accept that Putin could be up to something bad – so the German spies stuck their heads in the sand,” John Sipher, a retired CIA agent, told Focus magazine. “The Russia analysts from the BND are completely useless.”