Post by trueblue on Aug 12, 2022 19:24:47 GMT
'German soldier ‘sent army secrets to Russian spies out of sympathy’
A German army officer has gone on trial accused of feeding Russia’s spy service with German military and industrial secrets out of “sympathy” for the country.
Ralph G, a lieutenant colonel in the German reserves, gave his Russian contacts sensitive information on the operational abilities of the army in full knowledge that they were spies, Germany’s federal prosecution service said on the first day of the trial in Dusseldorf.
“We believe the accused was in contact with Russian intelligence service GRU via several persons, particularly at the Russian Embassy in Berlin,” said Gerd Kaiser, the federal prosecutor.
Much of the information that the 65-year-old allegedly passed on came from publicly available sources, but he is also accused of handing over the private contact details of senior army officials as well as passages from an unreleased defence white paper.
Ralph G, a lieutenant colonel in the German reserves, gave his Russian contacts sensitive information on the operational abilities of the army in full knowledge that they were spies, Germany’s federal prosecution service said on the first day of the trial in Dusseldorf.
“We believe the accused was in contact with Russian intelligence service GRU via several persons, particularly at the Russian Embassy in Berlin,” said Gerd Kaiser, the federal prosecutor.
Much of the information that the 65-year-old allegedly passed on came from publicly available sources, but he is also accused of handing over the private contact details of senior army officials as well as passages from an unreleased defence white paper.