An employee of the United Kingdom embassy in Berlin, suspected of spying for the benefit of Russia, is threatened with extradition to his country of origin, AFP learned on Friday (December 3rd) from a judicial source.
Read alsoThe United Kingdom shaken by the scandal of "spy police"
An extradition request issued by London is currently under consideration by the Brandenburg-sur-Havel prosecutor's office, the latter confirmed to AFP, confirming information from the weekly
Der Spiegel
.
The prosecution suspects this British national, David S., employed as a guard at the embassy gate, of having transmitted, at the latest since November 2020, information to a Russian intelligence service.
The information, transmitted against cash payments, mainly concerned Great Britain and, more rarely, Germany, according to
Der Spiegel
, who specifies that the suspect is opposed to his extradition.
Germany announced its arrest on August 11 following a joint investigation by British and German services.
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A new case of espionage
This case is added to a multitude of other cases of which the British and German authorities accuse Russia and its intelligence services.
In Germany, espionage cases in which the responsibility of the Kremlin is pointed out are legion.
At the end of June, a Russian scientist working in a German university, and suspected of spying on behalf of Moscow, was arrested.
But it is above all the attempt to poison the opponent Alexeï Navalny last August, for which Moscow is blamed by the West, which has contributed the most to poisoning German-Russian relations.
In a coma, Alexeï Navalny had been urgently transferred to a Berlin hospital and German doctors had diagnosed poisoning with a substance of the Novichok type.
See also In Moscow, the hunt for "foreign agents"
Many Russian diplomats accused of espionage have been expelled in recent months from Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Austria, France, and even the Czech Republic.
Each time, Moscow reacted symmetrically, while denouncing unfounded and "
Russophobic
"
accusations
.