A Russian scientist working at a Bavarian university has been indicted in Germany on suspicion of having spied on the European space program Ariane on behalf of Moscow, the German prosecutor's office announced on Thursday (January 27th).
Read alsoFeel the takeoff of the Ariane 5 rocket
The man, only presented by German justice as being Ilnur N., had been arrested last June.
Justice accuses him of having collected information for Russia “in the various stages of development of the European launcher Ariane”.
Ilnur N. was recruited by the Russian intelligence services "at the latest in the fall of 2019", according to the German federal prosecutor's office, responsible for espionage cases. Beginning in November of that year, he met several times with a senior Russian Foreign Intelligence official to whom he conveyed, “in numerous meetings, information on research projects in the field of aerospace technology, in particular on the different stages of development of the European Ariane launcher". In return, he received cash for a total amount of 2,500 euros, according to the same source.
The prosecution did not provide any further details about this man or the German university in which he worked.
In June, the German justice had indicated that he was a scientific assistant "for a scientific-technical chair".
Read alsoRussia adds opponent Navalny to the catalog of “terrorists and extremists”
This case comes in a very tense context between Russia and the Europeans on the Ukrainian issue while Westerners suspect Moscow of wanting to invade Ukraine.
Accusations of cyber-espionage against Moscow have also soured relations between Russians and Germans, who also maintain close economic ties.
But it is above all the attempted poisoning of the opponent Alexei Navalny in August 2020, for which Moscow is held responsible by the West, which has contributed the most to poisoning German-Russian relations.