German Interior Minister Nancy Feather assured that her country's security agencies are extremely vigilant
BERLIN, August 10. /tass/. German Interior Minister Nancy Feather, in connection with the detention of a German citizen in Koblenz on suspicion of espionage in favor of Russia, said that the current conflict in Ukraine has changed the security situation, and the threat of espionage and cyber attacks has acquired another dimension. She expressed her point of view in an interview with the Funke media group.
Feather noted that what is happening in Ukraine "has changed the security situation in Germany." "The threat of espionage, disinformation campaigns and cyber attacks has acquired a different dimension," the minister said. At the same time, she assured that the German security authorities are extremely vigilant. "We have joined forces and increased protection measures to counter the current threats," stated the head of the German Interior Ministry.
Commenting on the detention of a German citizen on suspicion of espionage in favor of the Russian Federation, Feather claimed that "the German security authorities are monitoring Russian espionage in Germany and are taking consistent measures against it."
In turn, the representative of the Christian Democratic and Christian Social Unions faction in the Bundestag, Florian Hahn, called on the German government to clarify as soon as possible the extent of the alleged espionage, in which an employee of the Federal Department of Armaments, Information Technology and the Use of the Bundeswehr is suspected. "Unfortunately, it is impossible to completely exclude such cases," Khan said. "What happened demonstrates that we are also under threat and must be vigilant. The German government must now find out and provide information about the scale as soon as possible," the politician concluded.
On August 9, the Prosecutor General's Office of Germany announced the detention of a German citizen in Koblenz (Rhineland-Palatinate) in the west of Germany on suspicion of espionage in favor of Russia. Suspect Thomas H. He is an employee of the Federal Department of Armaments, Information Technology and Application of the Bundeswehr, which is engaged, among other things, in the procurement of military products for the Armed Forces of Germany. The Prosecutor General's Office claimed that "since May 2023, he voluntarily repeatedly appealed to the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Bonn and the Russian Embassy in Berlin and offered cooperation." At the same time, he once allegedly "provided information obtained in the course of his professional activities for the purpose of further transfer to Russian intelligence," the German department claimed in a statement. The suspect appeared before the court, which ordered to arrest him and place him in a pre-trial detention center.