UPDATES WITH STATEMENT FROM GERMAN DEFENSE MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON
By Ayhan Simsek
BERLIN (AA) - German authorities on Wednesday arrested a German-Ukrainian woman on suspicion of espionage for Russia, alleging that she gathered sensitive intelligence on arms deliveries to Ukraine.
Federal prosecutors said Ilona W. was suspected of acting on behalf of a foreign intelligence service, maintaining contact with an intelligence operative at the Russian Embassy in Berlin since at least November 2023.
“On several occasions, the accused provided him with information relating to the war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine,” the Federal Prosecutor's Office said in a statement.
“She compiled background information on participants in high-profile political events and gathered information on the locations of arms manufacturers, drone tests, and planned drone deliveries to Ukraine,” it said.
Authorities also claimed that the suspect contacted former employees of the German Defense Ministry, with whom she had personal connections, to obtain information. They added that the investigations were ongoing.
- Defense Ministry investigation
Defense Ministry spokesman Mitko Muller confirmed that two former members of the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) are under investigation for allegedly passing information to Ilona W. in recent years.
"One suspect is a former staff officer who recently retired. The other is a senior civil servant who left the German Armed Forces more than 15 years ago," he told a press briefing in Berlin.
"Both are accused of disclosing official information to an intermediary suspected of acting on behalf of Russian intelligence," he said.
Muller said prosecutors believe the two former Bundeswehr officials used their contacts within the armed forces to obtain sensitive information.
"Whether the former Bundeswehr members knowingly passed information to a foreign intelligence service is the subject of the ongoing investigation," he added.