Germany will 'never accept' Russian spying, Scholz says after arrests

Two men have been arrested in Germany accused of spying for Russia and seeking to undermine German support for Ukraine, prosecutors and politicians said on Thursday.

The two German-Russian nationals, identified only as Dieter S and Alexander J due to Germany's strict privacy laws, were taken into custody on Wednesday in the Bavarian city of Bayreuth, the office of the Federal Public Prosecutor General said.

"Our security authorities have prevented possible explosive attacks that were intended to target and undermine our military aid for Ukraine," Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said following the arrests, describing it as a particularly serious case.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the arrests underscored that countering the threat of Russian espionage must remain a high priority: "We can never accept that such espionage activities take place in Germany."

The older of the two, Dieter S, is accused of conspiring to cause an explosion and to commit arson.

He is accused of exchanging information about possible acts of sabotage in Germany with a person connected to a Russian intelligence agency since at least October last year.

Dieter S is said to have told his interlocutor that he was prepared to carry out explosive and arson attacks, primarily on military infrastructure and industrial sites in Germany.

He collected information about potential targets, including US military facilities, according to the statement by the prosecutor's office.

He also allegedly scouted out and photographed possible targets, such as military transports.

The second suspect, Alexander J, is accused of helping him from March 2024 at the latest.

According to the prosecutors, Dieter S is also strongly suspected of having joined an armed unit of the Donetsk People's Republic, an entity in Russian-annexed eastern Ukraine which is classified by Germany as a foreign terrorist organization.

The two suspects were reportedly born in Russia but hold German and Russian citizenship. Investigators searched their homes and places of work in the Bayreuth region in southern Germany.

Following the arrests, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock summoned the Russian ambassador, although it was not clear when the meeting would take place.

The Russian embassy in Berlin dismissed the allegations as without evidence in a statement on Thursday and denounced the summoning of Ambassador Sergei Nechaev as an "open provocation aimed at fuelling the already exuberant spy mania in Germany and fanning anti-Russian sentiments."

The Russian ambassador also demanded immediate access to the suspects if they indeed hold Russian citizenship.

"We have made it clear that all unfriendly actions towards Russia will not go unanswered," the embassy said.

Faeser, the interior minister, said Germany "will continue to provide Ukraine with massive support and will not allow [itself] to be intimidated."

Justice Minister Marco Buschmann told dpa: "We know that the Russian power apparatus is focusing on our country."

He called the arrests "another significant investigative success" in the fight against the Kremlin's sabotage and espionage activities.