A senior German BND analyst who was arrested this week on suspicion of being a Russian spy may have passed intelligence shared by the US National Security Agency (NSA) and the UK government communications headquarters (GCHQ) to Russia. This was reported by the German magazine Focus, quoting an unnamed German security official.
The German federal prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday that authorities arrested a BND employee of German nationality. It is suspected that he “revealed classified information collected during his work to Russian intelligence agencies”.
BND chief Bruno Karl said he was conducting a “large internal investigation” and accused Russia of “dirty practices”.
According to Focus magazine, the BND officer suspected of espionage was an intelligence assessment expert who had analyzed information obtained from intercepted communications around the world. Bloomberg has reached out to federal prosecutors for comment on the report, but a spokeswoman declined to comment.
Economy Minister Habeck told RTL/ntv the incident was “particularly problematic” because it involved Germany’s foreign intelligence services. He stressed the important role of intelligence agencies, such as defense against industrial espionage.
Justice Minister Bushman also tweeted that if the allegations were found to be correct, they would “deal a huge blow to Russian espionage.”
news-rsf-original-reference">Original title:German allegedly spying for Moscow used NSA material, says Focus(extract)
