Fear of nuclear strike

Officer close to the AfD admits spying for Russia

The captain provided information to Russian representatives on his own initiative.

(Bild: AFP)

A German army officer has been on trial in Düsseldorf since Monday for particularly serious espionage for Russia. The man confessed to having provided Russia with military information as a spy. He was driven by fear of a nuclear escalation of the Ukraine war, the 54-year-old testified at the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court on Monday.

As a captain in the Bundeswehr, the accused was responsible for electronic warfare systems, said a representative of the federal prosecutor's office when the indictment was read out. His aim had been to "give the Russian armed forces an advantage against the background of the current political situation".

He had downloaded information from a Bundeswehr drive onto a CD and dropped it into the mailbox of the Russian consulate. He also photographed air force training documents with his cell phone.

The man sought contact with the Russian secret service, apparently because he was afraid of a nuclear war.

(Bild: APA/AFP/Natalia KOLESNIKOVA)

Information? "Gladly more"
From May 2023, the captain then sent confidential information to the Russian consulate in Bonn and the Russian embassy in Berlin on his own initiative several times, adding: "I would be happy to receive more". Although he received no response, he tried again and again: by post, by email, with phone calls from the internet and from a payphone.

He advertised himself as an agent by saying that the knowledge he could provide would be "a considerable plus for the Russian armed forces and the Russian Federation". The accused faces up to ten years in prison.

Actively seeking AfD membership
The man himself testified that he had also contacted the right-wing populist AfD party and applied for membership at a time when he was particularly afraid of nuclear war. According to the court, his application for membership was approved in July 2023. The accused testified that he had also previously contacted the Left Party. However, their fundamental rejection of the Bundeswehr had repelled him.

TikTok message as the trigger
A message, "presumably on TikTok", had triggered his impulse to contact the Russian consulate. The captain admitted that he had followed a pro-Russian, AfD-affiliated influencer on TikTok at the time. However, he could not remember exactly which message it was.

He was concerned with being able to get his family to safety in time. He had sought contact with the Russian side to find out in good time "when it was going to go off". "I only saw this way." Today, he regrets this very much and, looking back, sees it as a mistake. He was in a very bad mental state at the time.

Officer is in custody
Officers from the Federal Criminal Police Office arrested the captain in Koblenz on August 9, 2023. He has been in custody ever since. At that time, officers searched the accused's home and workplace. The senate, chaired by Judge Lars Bachler, has scheduled seven trial days until June 24.