Germany – Russia. Suspicion of espionage. Two men detained in Germany, Russian ambassador summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Dieter S. and Alexander J., who have dual German and Russian citizenship, were arrested in Bayreuth by officers of the Federal Criminal Police Office. According to the federal prosecutor's office, both are suspected of working for foreign secret services. Dieter S. was in possession of a weapon.

According to information from the German “Spiegel”, 39-year-old Dieter S. has been discussing sabotage operations in Germany with liaisons from the Russian secret services since October 2023. He allegedly agreed to carry out arson and attacks using explosives on military infrastructure, defense enterprises and industrial plants.

“We have prevented possible attacks that were intended to undermine our military assistance to Ukraine,” said Interior Minister Nancy Faeser. She added that this was “a particularly serious case of espionage for Putin's criminal regime.”

The sabotages were to focus, among other things, on transport routes used to transport military goods. According to investigators, the ultimate goal of the planned attacks was to undermine German support for Ukraine.

The findings so far show that Dieter S. was also involved in reconnaissance and photographing American military facilities in Germany. He allegedly passed these photos on to his Russian clients. Dieter S., suspected of espionage, was allegedly helped by 37-year-old Alexander J.

Military facilities spied on included U.S. military infrastructure in Grafenwoehr, Bavaria. There is, among other things, an important military training ground where the US army trains Ukrainian soldiers – for example on Abrams tanks, writes “Spiegel”.

In the afternoon, the German “Bild” reported that the Russian ambassador had been summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Berlin.