Three men arrested in Germany on suspicion of spying on former Ukrainian intelligence officer
Three men arrested in Frankfurt am Main in June are suspected of spying on a former Ukrainian officer and intelligence officer.
Source: decision of the Federal Court of Germany, as reported by European Pravda with reference to German online news platform Zeit
Details: The arrest of three citizens of Armenia, Russia and Ukraine was announced by the German Federal Prosecutor's Office in June. It was alleged that they were supposed to collect information about a person from Ukraine living in Germany on behalf of a foreign intelligence service.
The decision of the German Federal Court indicates that the information collected by the detainees was "highly likely" intended to prepare further intelligence operations in Germany.
It is possible that the ultimate goal was to kill the target or abduct him from Germany. So far, the investigation has not been able to establish which intelligence service was involved, but it is likely that it was Russian.
The court decision provides additional details of the case. Among other things, the target of the espionage was a former Ukrainian officer who worked for Ukraine's military intelligence. He was accused of war crimes in the Russian media.
The investigation believes that no later than the spring of 2024, the man became "the object of espionage efforts by a foreign special service". An unknown person contacted him and proposed that he work for the Ukrainian domestic intelligence service in Germany.
The man found out that the offer was fake and reported it to the police. Nevertheless, he arranged a meeting in a café in Frankfurt am Main, where the three men who were later detained arrived. During a search of their car, investigators found a GPS transmitter, which was presumably to be installed in the Ukrainian officer's car.
Prior to that, Germany had repeatedly detected spies working for Russian intelligence, including among high-ranking officials of the Bundeswehr.
German intelligence services have said that Russia is increasingly using blackmail and financial incentives to hire Germans to spy for it.
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