Spy: Researcher network sees itself in the sights of Russian services

German organizations with Eastern Europe focus are increasingly becoming the goal of spying maneuvers of Russian secret service – not only in the cyber room. “The fact that scientists and their organizations are also targeted by Russian services here in Germany is a new development,” reports the CEO of the academic network of Eastern Europe (Akno), Philipp Schmäke, the German Press Agency. Before 2021, this form of repression was particularly affected by opposition figures in exile and journalists, now also researchers.

Burglaries and cyber attacks

“One of our partner organization broke out three times,” says the chairman of the network based in Berlin. There have already been two cyber attacks against Akno. However, these hacker attacks were successfully warded off “because we had expected something like that”. According to Schmädeke, the network, which according to its own information has been financially supported by 1,200 people from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, assumes that a Russian secret service is behind the cyber attacks. It is of course difficult to prove that, he admits.

“The same applies if – as has already happened – a person who does not belong to our network several times in the area of ​​non -publicly announced meetings that we organize appears,” says Schmädeke. The scientists from Russia and Belarus, who supports Akno, had to leave their homes due to persecution, job bans or the like.

Due to the war, researchers from Ukraine, to which the club helps, came to Germany, some of the areas occupied by Russia due to repression. The network is trying to establish contacts between the scientists and various German universities. But Berlin remains the place in Germany that most of them are drawn to – because acquaintances or relatives already live there.

At the end of March, a cyber attack on the German Society for Eastern Europe (DGO) was presumably known from Russia. The Federal Office for Information Technology (BSI) and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution are involved in the analysis of the incident. Akno also had contact with the security authorities.

Network is considered “undesirable” in Russia

The DGO has been classified by the Russian authorities as an “extremist organization”, whereas the Federal Foreign Office protested. Akno has been a “undesirable foreign organization” in Russia since December 2023. Since then, the association has been prohibited from activity in Russia.

Confuse meetings and communication

“We do a lot of effort in terms of security questions,” reports the chairman. It is also about protecting employees who are sometimes not German citizens. The security effort is necessary, but binding resources that the network would rather use for other purposes. This form of repression Akno also closes in its public relations work. Schmädeke says that he sometimes wants more solidarity from universities and other institutions – “for example, some German universities avoid public contact with the German Society for Eastern Europe, since this was classified by Russia as a so -called extremist organization”.

How long the Russian secret service can be was shown on August 23, 2019 in Berlin when the former commander of a Chechen militia was murdered. The Russian, arrested near the crime scene and later sentenced to life imprisonment, was released on August 1, 2024 by a prisoner exchange.

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution recently warned: “The dangers from espionage, sabotage and disinformation have risen sharply with the Russian attack war on Ukraine since 2022.” The inhibition threshold for actions against Germany has dropped on the Russian side.