{
  "id": 7293308,
  "title": "Bundesanwaltschaft: Mutmaßliche Spionin Russlands in Berlin angeklagt",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/14/bundesanwaltschaft-mutma-liche-spionin-russlands-in-berlin-angeklagt",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-09-14T09:59:56.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Handelsblatt",
    "slug": "handelsblatt",
    "url": "https://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/deutschland/bundesanwaltschaft-mutmassliche-spionin-russlands-in-berlin-angeklagt/100254257.html"
  },
  "original_language": "de",
  "account": "The Bundesanwaltschaft, Germany's chief prosecution authority, has charged a suspected Russian spy in Berlin with espionage. The office accuses the woman of providing information to a secret service employee at the Russian embassy. She is charged with espionage activities. The German-Ukrainian woman was arrested in January and has been in custody since then. According to the charges, she had contact with the secret service employee since at least October 2023. \"She supplied her with numerous hints about high-profile events and enabled her to attend such events, sometimes under false names,\" the prosecution said. \"This allowed her to establish her own intelligence network.\" She allegedly also tried to recruit people from the Federal Ministry of Defense and the arms industry for her purposes, focusing especially on German defense policy and arms industry due to the Russian invasion in Ukraine. The State Protection Senate of the Berlin Chamber Court must now decide whether and when a trial will take place. Following her arrest in January, police searched the premises of the German-Ukrainian woman, as well as the premises of two other accused persons in Ahrweiler, Brandenburg Havelland, and Munich. The authorities made no further details at the time about the other accused persons. It was rumored at the time that two former employees of the Bundeswehr - a recently retired staff officer and a higher service official - were suspected of leaking service information to a middleman. No possible co-accused were mentioned by the Bundesanwaltschaft at the time. The suspected spy had been living in Germany for several decades, last offering marketing services and serving as president of a lobby association. She was known as a \"prorussian networker\" according to security circles during her arrest. In Berlin's political circles, she was present and attended various events of associations and organizations. No known payments to the accused have been reported so far. The federal office believed her actions were driven by conviction. The Federal Office's investigation was based on findings from the Federal Office for Protection of the Constitution (BfV) and the Federal Office for Military Detainees. Shortly after the arrest, the Foreign Office recalled the Russian ambassador, stating it had been made clear that this was a hostile act and that intelligence activities in our country are completely unacceptable, especially under the guise of diplomacy. The Foreign Office also informed the ambassador that a diplomat accredited to the Russian embassy who had been conducting espionage in Germany had been declared persona non grata with immediate effect. This individual was the deputy military attaché. Later reports suggested this was the deputy military attaché. The Kremlin later responded by expelling a German diplomat from Russia.",
  "summary": "Spionage-Anklage in Berlin: Wie eine prorussische Netzwerkerin mutmaßlich für den Kreml spionierte und welche Rolle ein ranghoher russischer Diplomat womöglich dabei spielte.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Handelsblatt",
        "title": "Spionage: Mutmaßliche Spionin Russlands in Berlin angeklagt",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/14/spionage-mutma-liche-spionin-russlands-in-berlin-angeklagt",
        "published": "2026-09-14T09:53:34.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}