Berlin:

Two German males been charged with excessive treason for gathering state secrets and techniques from Germany’s BND overseas intelligence company and passing them to Russia, Prosecutors Stated on Friday.

The pair, named as Carsten L. and Arthur E., are accused of working along with a Russian businessman to “procure delicate info from the BND’s portfolio” and hand it over to Russia’s FSB safety companies.

Carsten L., an worker of the BND, was arrested in December 2022 and his confederate was detained a month later as he arrived at Munich airport from the US.

Carsten L. is accused of passing on paperwork from the BND to Arthur E., who in flip handed them on to the contact in Russia, the prosecutors stated in a press release.

In September and October 2022, Carsten L. allegedly printed out or took screenshots of 9 inner BND paperwork.

He then handed on the data to Arthur E., who took digital photos of the paperwork to Moscow, printed them out and handed them over to the FSB.

The Russian businessman is alleged to have organized the conferences in Moscow and paid for Arthur E.’s flights.

The data was categorized and leaking it posed a critical threat to German safety, the prosecutors stated.

The FSB is alleged to have paid Carsten L. a minimum of 450,000 euros ($482,000) and Arthur E. a minimum of 400,000 euros, with Arthur E. selecting up the funds in money from Moscow.

On his approach again to Germany, Carsten E. organized for his confederate to be “smuggled” via customs on the airport.

If discovered responsible of excessive treason, the suspects might be jailed for all times.

Russia and Germany have been at odds over a number of circumstances of alleged spying since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.

The BfV German home safety company in June warned towards the danger of an “aggressive Russian espionage operation” as Moscow pursues its conflict on Ukraine.

Western sanctions towards Russia and help for Ukraine’s navy defence meant the Kremlin had an “elevated curiosity” in info gathering, the BfV stated in its annual report.

In August, a German nationwide working for the navy was arrested on suspicion of spying for Russia.

In November 2022, a German man was handed a suspended sentence for passing info to Russian intelligence companies whereas working as a reserve officer for the German military.

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