The public prosecutor's office in Germany filed charges today, Monday, against a woman in Berlin on suspicion of spying for Russia.
According to a statement from the highest public prosecution authority in Germany, the woman is accused of providing a Russian intelligence officer working at the Russian embassy with information.
According to the statement, the woman faces charges of engaging in intelligence activities on behalf of a foreign agency.
The German-Ukrainian woman was arrested last January and has since been in pre-trial detention.
According to the indictment from the federal prosecutor's office, the accused had been in contact with the Russian intelligence officer since October 2023 at the latest.
The statement read: "The accused had been supplying him for years with numerous pieces of information about high-level events, and was enabling him to attend such events, partly under a pseudonym... The aim was to allow him to build his own network for intelligence purposes."
According to the prosecution, the accused also attempted to "recruit individuals from the German Ministry of Defense and the arms industry to serve her purposes."
At the request of the Russian intelligence officer, the accused sought information regarding German defense policy and the arms industry, especially in light of the Russian war on Ukraine.
The State Security Division of the Berlin Regional Court must now decide whether the woman will be tried and when.
On the day of her arrest in January, the federal prosecutor's office announced that the German-Ukrainian woman's premises and those of two other suspected individuals were searched.
The operations included the Rafael area in the Rhineland-Palatinate, the Havelland area in Brandenburg, and the city of Munich. At that time, the federal prosecution did not disclose further details about the other suspects, stating that they were at large.
According to previous information, the operation also targeted two former members of the German military; one was a recently retired staff officer, and the other a senior service employee who had left the German military more than 15 years ago.
At that time, authorities suspected that the two had leaked information related to their work to a mediator. The federal prosecutor's office has not currently provided any information regarding other potential suspects.
It is noted that the suspect had been living in Germany for several decades, recently working in marketing services, and had been the head of a lobbying association.
Security sources stated upon her arrest last January that she had long been known as an activist in pro-Russian networks. She was present in political circles in Berlin and participated in various events organized by associations and organizations.
So far, there has been no information regarding any payments received by the accused, while previous statements by the woman, according to informed sources, indicate that she acted out of her convictions.
The investigation conducted by the federal prosecutor's office is based, according to its statements, on information from the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (domestic intelligence) and the Federal Office for Military Intelligence.
The day following the arrest, the German Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador concerning the espionage allegations.
Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul stated that it was "clarified that this is a hostile act and that intelligence activities in our country are completely unacceptable, especially under the guise of diplomatic work." The Foreign Ministry stated that the ambassador was informed "that an employee of the Russian Federation embassy, accredited as a diplomat, who has been found to have engaged in espionage in Germany, has become a persona non grata effective immediately."