German authorities arrested a woman in Berlin on Wednesday, alleging that she passed intelligence about military aid to Ukraine to Russia.
Also on Wednesday, two men were arrested in Germany’s northeastern Brandenburg region for funnelling more than €14,000 ($16,300) to pro-Russian separatist militias fighting in eastern Ukraine.
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The arrests came as European and world leaders congregated in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum, where the agenda was dominated by US President Donald Trump’s recent threats to gain control of Greenland by any means. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warned that Ukraine is crucial for US and European security, and “focus on Ukraine should be the number one priority.”
Berlin
Ilona W., who cannot be fully named due to German privacy laws, is said by prosecutors to have “compiled background information on participants in high-profile political events and gathered information on arms industry sites, drone tests and planned deliveries of drones to Ukraine,” as per AFP.
The suspect is also alleged to have been in active contact with the Russian embassy in Berlin since November 2023. A defense ministry spokesperson said that two former German defense officials are being investigated in relation to the charges against Ilona. W.
According to Euronews, two other suspects, whose homes were raided on Wednesday morning along with Ilona W.’s, remain at large.
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Brandenburg
In Brandenburg, two men – one German and one Russian national – were arrested by German police on Wednesday.
Suren A. allegedly sent more than €14,000 ($16,300) to pro-Russian separatist militias, while Falko H., is accused of visiting Donbas several times to meet with the militias’ representatives, as well as assisting them on the ground.
As per DPA, the two men are thought to belong to a group that organizes the transport of military aid to pro-Russian forces in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Suren A. and Falko H. are accused of holding senior positions in this organization.
Their bail hearing is set to be presided over by the investigating judge of the Federal Court of Justice on Thursday.
Russian espionage
Ukraine’s intelligence services frequently arrest Russian agents and saboteurs within Ukraine’s borders. For example, two men from a neighboring European country allegedly recruited by Russia to commit acts of arson within western Ukraine last month, and Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) said in November that they had detained a Russian agent as he primed an explosive device in a Kharkiv park.
But Russia’s espionage operations extend far beyond Ukraine’s borders. Late last year, a Paris court convicted four Bulgarian nationals for their part in a Kremlin-linked plot to desecrate a Second World War memorial. The judge described foreign interference as “indisputable,” while a defense lawyer in the case argued that “the shadow of Russia hangs over this courtroom.”
In Germany itself, it is possible that Russian influence is present in the highest echelons of power. In November, a lawmaker for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s ruling party accused Germany’s far-right AfD party of harboring a Russian “sleeper cell.”
AfD representatives have frequently asked parliamentary questions about sensitive military and security matters in the Bundestag in recent months – including arms deliveries to Ukraine, power stations, drone production and army bases.