The BND scandal enters the next round.
In focus: A courier with a suspicious envelope, two meetings in Moscow and various secret information.
Berlin – The Russia affair about an employee of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) is expanding.
According to "Spiegel" information, the alleged accomplice and courier of the suspected BND man Carsten L. admitted to having traveled to Moscow at least twice to hand over secret documents from the German foreign secret service to employees of the Russian secret service FSB.
Two meetings in Moscow restaurant - courier in sight
According to this, the conspiratorial meetings took place in a Moscow restaurant in October and November 2022.
There he met two men from the Russian secret service FSB and gave them "several dozen pages of Russian-language documents," reports the magazine.
The alleged courier Arthur E. was arrested on January 22 when he entered the United States at Munich Airport.
According to the Attorney General, he is a German citizen and not a BND employee.
Explosive: His wife is said to be Russian and work as a dentist, and he himself also has Russian roots.
The man, who was born in 1991, was stripped of his Russian citizenship in 1999.
Why is unclear.
He has a German passport and was last registered in Munich.
However, he received the Russian contacts from BND agent Carsten L.
The investigators are apparently also investigating the thesis that it could have been the other way around.
Thus, E. would have persuaded BND locksmith L. to disclose internal service information and then made contact with the Russian FSB himself.
Arthur E. is strongly suspected of complicity in treason.
BND employee Carsten L. was arrested in Berlin on December 21 on suspicion of treason.
After the Russian attack on Ukraine last year, he is said to have passed on information he obtained in the course of his work to Russia.
Both suspects are in custody.
Envelope with money for secret Russia info
According to
Spiegel
information, Arthur E. testified that the FSB agents gave him an envelope containing cash at the second meeting in Moscow in return for the secret BND documents.
Both accused are former Bundeswehr soldiers.
According to Spiegel
information, the material handed over in Moscow
includes printed screenshots of secret tables and data on the number of Russian victims in Ukraine, which the BND apparently intercepted as part of covert operations.
According to
Spiegel
, E.'s statements indicate that Carsten L. may have had other helpers at the BND.
For example, E. testified that after his return from his second trip to Moscow, he was not picked up at Munich airport by L., but by another BND employee.
He also took the envelope with the cash in it.
The investigators had initiated a procedure for this.
However, there is much to suggest that the second BND man was unknowingly hired, writes the magazine.
(as/dpa)
