Germany: A former Bundeswehr employee admits to spying for Russia. How he justified his actions

A former member of the German army admitted on Monday, on the first day of his trial, that he spied for Russia, justifying his actions by wanting to avoid an escalation of the war in Ukraine.

The 54-year-old man was arrested in August 2023 in the western city of Koblenz. He is being tried before the court in Düsseldorf for the transmission of information to the Russian intelligence services and the violation of defense secrecy, reports News.ro quoting France Presse.

Thomas H., who worked in the main IT and logistics department of the Bundeswehr, in particular responsible for the management of military equipment, admitted that he passed on the information he obtained as an employee of this department to the Russian consulate in Bonn.

“I admit it was a mistake,” he told the court in Düsseldorf.

The department where he worked, which has around 12,000 employees, has seen its workload rise sharply since the start of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine in February 2022, with Germany becoming the second largest contributor of military aid to Kiev, after the United States.

In addition to several saved computer files, Thomas H. allegedly photographed old training documents related to munitions systems and aeronautical technology, according to the indictment. He then deposited these documents in a mailbox at the consulate in Bonn, along with his contact details, and allegedly offered to get others. Not receiving a response, he would then have tried other contacts.

Thomas H. believed these documents were “valuable” because they could have given Russia a military advantage, according to the prosecutor’s office.

It is a “very serious” crime that requires a “coherent response from a state of law”, said one of the prosecutors, without giving details about the motivations of the accused, who said he wanted to speak at the trial.

The hearings are expected to last until the end of June.

Thomas H. faces up to 10 years in prison.

According to Der Spiegel magazine, Thomas H. held the rank of captain in the army department responsible for the acquisition of electronic warfare equipment that can, among other things, disrupt enemy air defense systems. Also, he had “attracted domestic attention for his sympathies towards the AfD”, the far-right German party, considered close to Russia, according to information from the Berlin newspaper Tagesspiegel.

More and more cases of espionage

Last year, German domestic intelligence services warned of an increase in spying for Russia after the invasion of Ukraine.

The most recent example dates back to April 18 itself. Two men of Russian and German nationality have been accused of planning acts of sabotage for Russia, including at an American military base, to undermine German aid to Ukraine.

A former German secret agent is currently on trial in Berlin for passing classified information to the Russian security services (FSB) in the fall of 2022, a charge he categorically denies.

In November 2022, a German was also given a suspended sentence for passing information to Russian intelligence services while working as a reserve officer for the Bundeswehr.

Faced with an increasing number of cases of this type, the German authorities have pledged to adopt a tough stance. “We can never accept that espionage activities take place in Germany,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said recently.

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Germany has expelled numerous Russian diplomats accused of posing a threat to the country’s security. Berlin also closed four of five Russian consulates on its territory in retaliation for Moscow’s restrictions on its own diplomatic representation in Russia.