A lieutenant colonel in the Bundeswehr reserve is said to have provided the Russian secret service GRU with information for years – out of sympathy for Russia. Now he has to go to court in Düsseldorf.
A reserve officer in the Bundeswehr is said to have provided a Russian secret service with information for years. As of this Thursday, the 65-year-old has to answer to the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court for secret service agent activity.
According to the federal prosecutor’s office, the man from Erkrath near Düsseldorf disclosed information about German reservists and civil-military cooperation in crisis situations. It was also about the effects of the Russia sanctions imposed in 2014 and the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline, which has since been stopped.
Furthermore, the man is said to have given the Russians private contact details of high-ranking members of the Bundeswehr and from business. The security and defense policy of the USA and its western allies was also an issue.
According to the indictment, the documents and information came partly from public sources, but also from non-public sources. In the Bundeswehr reserve, the man headed a district liaison command as deputy head. The court has scheduled 20 days of hearings for the case until mid-December.
Benefits but no money
According to the indictment, the defendant had the rank of lieutenant colonel in the German armed forces. From 2014 to 2020 he is said to have provided the Russian secret service GRU with information – out of sympathy for Russia. According to the investigation, he did not receive any money. However, he had hoped for advantages such as invitations to security conferences in Russia and received them.
In two interrogations, he largely admitted that the information was passed on, a court spokeswoman said when asked by the dpa. As the 107-page indictment states, the military counter-intelligence service (MAD) had already found out about the reserve officer in 2018.
According to the news magazine “Spiegel”, Erkrather was recruited by two secret service employees who were officially military attachés at the Russian embassy. He had insider knowledge about the reservists, reports on the operational readiness of the weapon systems of the Bundeswehr and their cyber capabilities.
Source: Stern
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