A British man working at the embassy in Berlin has been arrested on suspicion of spying for Russia, German offiicals have said.
Prosecutors said a UK citizen accused of spying for the Kremlin since last year while working at the British Embassy had been detained.
The man was arrested on Tuesday in Potsdam following an investigation jointly headed by German and British authorities.
German privacy laws meant he could only be identified as David S, aged 57. Detectives have conducted a search of his home and office.
Prosecutors said he was suspected of having spied for the Russian intelligence service since at least November.
Before his arrest, he worked at the British Embassy in the German capital, having been hired locally.
He allegedly passed on documents he received at work to the Russians on at least one occasion, and received an unknown amount of money in return, the prosecutor’s statement said.
“On at least one occasion he forwarded documents obtained in the course of his professional activities to a representative of a Russian intelligence service,” the German prosecutors’ statement said.
“In return for providing information, the accused received cash in a previously unknown amount.”
World news in pictures
Show all 51
1/51World news in pictures
World news in pictures
10 August 2021
Supporters cheer outside French football club Paris Saint-Germain’s Parc des Princes stadium in Paris after Argentinian football player Lionel Messi landed in Le Bourget airport to sign for the club
AFP/Getty
World news in pictures
9 August 2021
People perform a folk dance to traditional music as they celebrate the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples in Mumbai, India
EPA
World news in pictures
8 August 2021
Thank you messages is displayed inside the stadium during the Olympic closing ceremony in Tokyo
Reuters
World news in pictures
7 August 2021
Pro-democracy protesters clash with police during a demonstration demanding Thai prime minister Prayut Chan-Ochas and King Maha Vajiralongkorn be held accountable for the governments failure to contain the Covid-19 outbreak, in Bangkok
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
6 August 2021
Members of local NPO release paper lanterns on Motoyasu River in front of beside the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, as it was known before 1945, and now called the Atomic Bomb Dome, as the city marks the 76th anniversary of the world’s first atomic bomb attack
AFP/Getty
World news in pictures
5 August 2021
The Men’s Decathletes pose for a photo following their competition on day thirteen of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan
Getty
World news in pictures
4 August 2021
Maronite clergymen pray near damaged grain silos at the port of Lebanon’s capital on the first anniversary of the blast that ravaged the port and the city
AFP/Getty
World news in pictures
3 August 2021
An underwater view shows France’s Charlotte and Laura Tremble during the women’s duet technical routine artistic swimming event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
AFP/Getty
World news in pictures
2 August 2021
Germany compete in the women’s team pursuit qualifying event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Izu Velodrome
AFP/Getty
World news in pictures
1 August 2021
enezuela’s Yulimar Rojas competes in the women’s triple jump final during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Rojas took gold and broke the Olympic and World Record in the process
AFP/Getty
World news in pictures
31 July 2021
Elaine Thompson-Herah celebrates as she crosses the finish line to win the gold medal ahead of Jamaican teammate Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in the women’s 100m final at the Tokyo Olympic Games
Reuters
World news in pictures
30 July 2021
Athletes compete during the men’s 3000m Steeplechase at the Tokyo Olympics
Reuters
World news in pictures
29 July 2021
Athletes compete in the BMX men’s Olympic quarter-finals run at the Ariake Urban Sports Park in Tokyo
AFP/Getty
World news in pictures
28 July 2021
A picture taken with a drone shows researchers from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Utrecht University investigating a dead fin whale found in the harbor of Terneuzen, The Netherlands
EPA
World news in pictures
27 July 2021
People wearing face masks to protect against the spread of the coronavirus walk past extra papers reporting on Japanese gold medalists at Tokyo Olympics
AP
World news in pictures
26 July 2021
The ball hits Thailand’s Orawan Paranang’s face as she competes against Japan’s Kasumi Ishikawa during her women’s singles round 3 table tennis match at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
AFP via Getty Images
World news in pictures
25 July 2021
A woman walks in the rubble after flooding due to heavy rains in Dinant, Belgium, a week after more than 30 people were killed in floods in the country
EPA
World news in pictures
24 July 2021
A firefighter uses a drip torch to light a backfire in an effort to stop the spread of the Dixie fire in Prattville, California
AFP/Getty
World news in pictures
23 July 2021
An overview shows Japan’s tennis player Naomi Osaka lighting the flame of hope in the Olympic Cauldron during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, at the Olympic Stadium, in Tokyo
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
22 July 2021
People wade through a flooded street following a heavy rain in Zhengzhou, in China’s Henan province
AFP/Getty
World news in pictures
21 July 2021
People celebrate in Brisbane, Australia, following an announcement by the International Olympic Committee that the city was picked to host the 2032 Olympics
AAP Image via AP
World news in pictures
20 July 2021
Muslims attending the Eid Al-Adha prayer at Skenderbej Square in Tirana
AFP/Getty
World news in pictures
19 July 2021
Muslim pilgrims gather on Mount Mercy on the plains of Arafat during the annual Haj pilgrimage outside the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Reuters
World news in pictures
18 July 2021
People protest against the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan
Reuters
World news in pictures
17 July 2021
A long exposure photograph shows Muslim pilgrims circumambulating around the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest shrine, at the Grand mosque in the holy Saudi city of Mecca during the annual hajj pilgrimage
AFP/Getty
World news in pictures
16 July 2021
A van crushed by the torrents is pressed against a tree after the floods caused major damage in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, western Germany
AFP/Getty
World news in pictures
15 July 2021
A staff member sits at an interactive digital installation “Fire / Forest and Spiral of Resonating Lamps in the Forest” during a media preview of “teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live” at the lobby of Mifuneyama Rakuen Hotel, Takeo Hot Springs in Saga prefecture
AFP/Getty
World news in pictures
14 July 2021
Pupils of the Special Military School of Saint-Cyr march during the annual Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris
AFP/Getty
World news in pictures
13 July 2021
Rescuers look for bodies after a catastrophic blaze erupted Monday at a coronavirus hospital ward in the al-Hussein Teaching Hospital, in Nasiriyah, Iraq
AP
World news in pictures
12 July 2021
People try to recover a car damaged during flash floods after heavy monsoon rains in Bhagsunag, a popular tourist town in Himachal Pradesh, India
AP
World news in pictures
11 July 2021
Police cars are seen overturned in the street in the framework of a demonstration against Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel in Havana
AFP via Getty Images
World news in pictures
10 July 2021
Tanya and Evance Chanda from Mechanicsville look on as a statue of Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson is removed after years of a legal battle over the contentious monument, in Charlottesville, Virginia
Reuters
World news in pictures
9 July 2021
Hundreds of Haitians gather in front of the US embassy in the hope that they will be granted a visa to leave their country, due the uncertainty of what may happen after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti
EPA
World news in pictures
8 July 2021
NGOs fly huge rainbow balloon at Hungary’s parliament protesting against anti-LGBT law in Budapest
Reuters
World news in pictures
7 July 2021
The Ever Given leaves the Suez Canal after its Japanese owners reached a settlement following more than three months and a court standoff over compensation for it blocking the crucial east-west waterway for nearly a week earlier this year
Getty
World news in pictures
6 July 2021
Queen Maxima of the Netherlands arrives to be greeted by German Chancellor at the Chancellery in Berlin
AFP/Getty
World news in pictures
5 July 2021
Firefighters work at the site of an explosion and fire at a plastics factory on the outskirts of Bangkok
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
4 July 2021
In this photo released by authorities, rescuers search for bodies from the site where a Philippine military C-130 plane crashed in Patikul town, Sulu province, Philippines
AP
World news in pictures
3 July 2021
A fire on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico erupted after a gas leak from an underwater pipeline sparked a blaze, according to Mexico’s state-owned Pemex petrol company
Twitter/Manuel Lopez San Martin
World news in pictures
2 July 2021
A human chain is formed by workers from the civil society, humanitarian aid, and medical and rescue services in a vigil calling for maintaining a UN resolution authorising the passage of humanitarian aid into Syria’s rebel-held northwestern province of Idlib through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey
AFP/Getty
World news in pictures
1 July 2021
Members and supporters of LGBT community wear masks and hold rainbow flags as they gather during the annual gay pride parade in Pristina, Kosovo
Reuters
World news in pictures
30 June 2021
A man walks past traditional large figures called “Ondel-ondel”, donning face masks and displayed along a sidewalk of a main road, in Jakarta, Indonesia
Reuters
World news in pictures
29 June 2021
Toshiyuki Inoko, leader of TeamLab, poses for a photo following an interview with AFP in an interactive kinetic installation “Floating Flower Garden: Flowers and I are of the Same Root, the Garden and I are One” during a media preview of the TeamLab Planets Garden Area in the Toyosu district of Tokyo
AFP/Getty
World news in pictures
28 June 2021
Youths crawl on the ground while holding wooden mock rifles during a military summer training camp organised by the Islamic Jihad group, in Gaza City
AP
World news in pictures
27 June 2021
Juventude’s Matheus Jesus in action with Flamengo’s Rene in the Brasileiro Championship
Reuters
World news in pictures
26 June 2021
A boat passes off shore as members of the South Florida Urban Search and Rescue team look for possible survivors in the partially collapsed 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building
Getty
World news in pictures
25 June 2021
The last super moon of 2021 behind the 66-metre tall Millennium cross in Skopje, North Macedonia
Reuters
World news in pictures
24 June 2021
Nikhil Sachania steers his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X with co-driver Deep Patel ahead of the 2021 Safari Rally Kenya during a side-by-side super special at Kasarani near Nairobi
AFP/Getty
World news in pictures
23 June 2021
A football fan sits in the stands before the UEFA EURO 2020 Group E football match between Sweden and Poland at Saint Petersburg Stadium in Saint Petersburg
AFP/Getty
World news in pictures
22 June 2021
A child holds a Chinese flag near the museum of the First National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party during a media tour organised by the local government in Shanghai on June 22, 2021
AFP/Getty
World news in pictures
21 June 2021
Jun 21, 2021; Omaha, Nebraska, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores outfielder Cooper Davis (3) leaps over pitcher Nick Maldonado (29) in between inning action against the NC State Wolfpack at TD Ameritrade Park
USA TODAY Sports/Reuters
A judge at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe – Germany’s supreme court – is expected to decide on Wednesday whether the suspect should be held in custody.
In a statement, the Metropolitan Police, who also declined to name him fully, said: “The man was arrested in the Berlin area on suspicion of committing offences relating to being engaged in ‘Intelligence Agent activity’ (under German law).
“Primacy for the investigation remains with German authorities. Officers from the Counter Terrorism Command continue to liaise with German counterparts as the investigation continues.”
The Met’s Counter Terrorism Command is responsible for investigating alleged breaches of the Official Secrets Act.
A UK government spokesman said: “An individual who was contracted to work for the government was arrested yesterday by the German authorities.
“It would not be appropriate to comment further as there is an ongoing police investigation.”
German Foreign Ministry spokesman Christofer Burger said: “We take the indications that the intelligence activity of the arrested man was carried out on behalf of a Russian intelligence service very seriously.
“Spying on a close ally on German soil is not something we can accept.”
In November, Russia’s security services detained a UK-based executive working for Aeroflot on suspicion of spying for Britain.
Dmitry Fedotkin – the UK station manager for the Russian airline for the last five years – was reportedly arrested in Moscow.
An unnamed Russian source alleged that Mr Fedotkin had passed information about Russia’s social and political situation to British intelligence services – but did not have access to state secrets linked to the aviation industry.
In a separate casse, Paul Whelan – a British, Irish, US and Canadian citizen – was detained at a Moscow hotel in December 2018 by Russian authorities and accused of spying on Russia.
The former United States Marine was subsequently sentenced to 16 years in prison – and has already spent two years behind bars, some of that in solitary confinement.