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Federal prosecutors have charged a German national with handing over Bundestag parliament building projects and plans to a suspected Russian agent at the Russian Embassy.
Germany’s federal prosecutor’s office announced the espionage allegations in a press release on Thursday. She said the suspect, identified only as Jens F., worked for a company that was hired to carry out checks on electrical equipment by the Bundestag, the German parliament.
In that role, the German citizen allegedly used his approach to gather information and pass it on to “an employee at the Russian Embassy in Berlin, who works mainly for the Russian military secret service GRU,” the statement said.
The 55-year-old is believed to have sent PDF files “on his own initiative” with the Bundestag building plans to the Russian secret service between late July and early September 2017. The Bundestag is housed in the Reichstag building in central Berlin, but also uses some other buildings.
Russia criticizes the ‘myth’ of aggression
In comments made by the Russian news agency Interfax, the head of the State Duma’s foreign relations committee, Leonid Sluzki, said: “Such reports about” Russian spies “captured only serve to fuel an anti-Russian information campaign for support the myth of Moscow aggression. He asked why the case had come to light more than three years after the alleged violation.
Not the first case of espionage
German intelligence has repeatedly warned of the risk of attempted espionage or cyber-attacks by Russia.
In 2015, the Bundestag computer systems were targeted by a Russian hacker attack.
In October, the EU imposed sanctions on two Russian officials and part of the GRU over the incident.
Tensed relationships
Recent espionage allegations could escalate tensions between Berlin and Moscow. Ties are already strained over the poisoning and imprisonment of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was treated for months in the German capital last year.
In another case, a Russian accused of killing a Georgian national in a Berlin park in 2019 – believed to be ordered by Moscow – is facing trial in the German capital. Espionage charges against Jens F. were filed in a Berlin court earlier this month. The court has not yet decided whether to open a lawsuit./DW/
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