BBC: Germany struggles with wave of spy threats from Russia and China
Kyiv • UNN
Germany is struggling with a wave of suspicions of Russian and Chinese espionage: in April, six suspected spies were arrested, including an assistant to a member of the European Parliament accused of spying for China, two German citizens of Russian origin suspected of sabotaging military aid to Ukraine, and three Germans who planned to pass engine designs to Chinese intelligence.
In Germany, six suspected spies were arrested in April, triggering a flood of accusations of Russian and Chinese espionage, the BBC reports, UNN reports.
Details
An aide to MEP Maximilian Kra, who heads the party's list, is arrested on suspicion of spying for China. Jian G is accused of being an "employee of the Chinese secret service".
Prosecutors have also launched a preliminary investigation into the politician himself over alleged payments from pro-Russian and Chinese sources. Mr. Kra denies any wrongdoing.
Two German citizens of Russian descent were arrested on suspicion of conspiring to sabotage German military aid to Ukraine, and three Germans were detained on suspicion of planning to transfer advanced engine designs to Chinese intelligence.
It's really unusual that almost simultaneously three networks were detained that were [allegedly] engaged in some kind of espionage for Russia and China
It is believed that in all three cases of espionage, the efforts of Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the BfV, played a decisive role.
The arrests took place immediately after Chancellor Olaf Scholz returned from large-scale talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
A few months earlier, a senior official of the German foreign intelligence service BND named Carsten L. was brought to trial on charges of passing classified information to the Russians in exchange for payments of about 400,000 euros.
Publicly cracking down on suspected spies can be one way to send a message to friends and foes alike that Berlin takes security seriously.
