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"Federal Public Prosecutor at the Federal Court of Justice" reads a sign at the entrance to the Federal Prosecutor's Office building
Photo: Christoph Schmidt / dpa
A Russian scientist has been targeted by the federal prosecutor general.
The federal prosecutor's office has now filed charges against the man on charges of espionage for Moscow.
Ilnur N. is said to have passed on information on research projects in the field of aerospace technology to a Russian foreign intelligence service.
This was announced by the investigating authority.
Specifically, N. is said to have passed on information on various stages of development of the European launch vehicle Ariane.
In return, according to the investigators, he received cash totaling 2,500 euros.
The charge of suspected secret service agent activity was brought before the State Protection Senate of the Munich Higher Regional Court.
N. has been in custody since June last year.
Before he was arrested, he worked as a research assistant for a scientific and technical chair at a university in Bavaria.
As of November 2019, there are said to have been regular meetings with the command officer
According to the federal prosecutor’s office, the Russian foreign intelligence service SWR contacted the accused by autumn 2019 at the latest.
N. had agreed to a secret service cooperation.
The secret service was primarily interested in the various stages of development of the Ariane rocket and the suspect's materials research.
According to the federal prosecutor, from the end of November 2019 there were regular meetings between N. and the senior officer of the Russian foreign intelligence service stationed in Germany.
At these meetings, N. is said to have disclosed information.
The accused was a doctoral student at the University of Augsburg.
There he researched hybrid material systems for lightweight construction.
Investigators searched his home and office in the course of the arrest.
asc/AFP
