The German Vice-Chancellor considered, on Friday, that the discovery of a possible double spy working for Russia within the German intelligence is very disturbing, while other officials expressed their concern because the arrested suspect had access to intelligence information of allied countries.
The German Federal Public Prosecutor in Karlsruhe announced Thursday that Carsten L., a foreign intelligence officer, had been arrested in Berlin on suspicion of transmitting sensitive information to Russia.
In response to a question from German broadcasters RTL and NTV, German Economics Minister and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck described this issue as particularly worrisome at a time when Russia’s military offensive against Ukraine continues.
Marco Boschmann, the justice minister, said on Twitter that the case showed “how vigilant we have to be”.
Wolfgang Kupecky, vice president of the Free Democratic Party – one of the three parties in the government coalition – expressed his concern about the negative repercussions that this case might have on the cooperation of the German Foreign Intelligence Service with its Western counterpart.
“If information from Germany’s foreign intelligence service does indeed reach Russia, it will make our cooperation with our partners much more difficult,” Kubicki told the German Handelsblatt newspaper.
Citing information from sources in the security services in Berlin, the Focus Online news website said on Friday that the double spy who was discovered was an officer in the highly secret technical intelligence abroad.
As part of his job, he had access to all information of Western German intelligence partners, according to the site.
It is possible that among the data he viewed was eavesdropping information from other intelligence agencies, including the US National Security Agency and the British Government Communications Office (an intelligence agency).
The Public Prosecution confirmed that the double spy “transferred in 2022 information he obtained in the course of his professional activities, to a Russian intelligence service”.
Bruno Kahl, director of foreign intelligence, said: “Every detail made public in this case represents an advantage for this adversary in his quest to harm Germany”.
