BERLIN — A member of Germany’s federal intelligence service has been arrested on suspicion of spying for Russia and is facing charges of treason, state prosecutors said Thursday.
The German Federal Prosecutor’s Office said in its statement that the suspect, identified as “Carsten L.” under German privacy laws, was charged with “passing information obtained in the course of his professional activities to a Russian intelligence agency.”
On Thursday, a federal judge approved the detention of the defendant. He was arrested last week, but German authorities have released few details. Federal intelligence chief Bruno Kahl said in a statement that releasing more information “would provide an advantage to an adversary with intent to harm Germany.”
The investigation follows a series of arrests across Europe of others accused of being Russian spies. In most cases, people are involved who prosecutors say are embedded in an organization or community to facilitate long-term espionage or recruitment.
Last month, Norwegian authorities announced they had arrested a man posing as a Brazilian university academic on charges of gathering intelligence for Russia. In June, an International Criminal Court intern, also holding a Brazilian passport, was arrested in The Hague on charges of spying for Russia. In late November, a Swedish raid caught a Russian couple accused of espionage. And earlier this week, Austrian detectives arrested a Greek resident of Vienna on suspicion of spying for Russia.
However, the arrest in Germany may prove unusual as the accused mole was found within the country’s own intelligence agency, raising the risk that contacts and informants in Russia may have been betrayed.
Federal prosecutors said in a statement that they searched the suspect’s residence and workplace.
Mr. Kahl, the president of the BND, described Russia as an actor “whose unscrupulousness and willingness to use violence we must reckon with”.
A number of other Russian spies, who were not undercover agents but officially worked for intelligence agencies, have been captured and expelled in recent years, which may have increased Russia’s reliance on sleeper agents, especially as the Kremlin’s war effort in Ukraine has failed. Security analysts in Europe say the arrests have also prompted Moscow to press more aggressively for information from the remaining sources.
Germany’s last case of a double agent was in 2014, when a member of the intelligence services was jailed for eight years for espionage, mainly for passing information to the CIA, and for offering himself to the Russian secret services.