Russian Man Arrested in Germany on Suspicion of Espionage

08:45 GMT, 21 June 2021

Evgeny Mikhaylov

The suspect was employed at a natural science department of a German university. According to German authorities, between October 2020 and June 2021, he held at least three meetings with a representative of the Russian special services and leaked to him information obtained at work, in exchange for money.

Sputnik

German prosecutors have detained a Russian national on suspicion of espionage, an official release said on Monday.

"Last Friday (18 June), the federal prosecution authorised the detention of Russian citizen Ilnur N. on the basis of an order of an investigative judge. Searches were carried out at the detainee's workplace and place of residence. He is reasonably suspected of working for a Russian special service starting no later than the beginning of October 2020", the Office of the Public Prosecutor General of Germany said in a press release.

Russian Man Arrested in Germany on Suspicion of Espionage

A court on Saturday ordered the man be kept in custody pending a possible indictment.

Berlin previously accused Moscow of hacking attacks against the Bundestag on several occasions, claiming there was a "Russian trace" in the cyberattacks on the German parliament in 2015. The German authorities, however, failed to provide any evidence to support those claims, which Russia called "absurd" and "baseless".