British intelligence could have been leaked to Russia by German ‘double agent’, espionage expert says
- A German double agent reportedly leaked British intel on Ukraine to Russia
- ‘Carsten L’, a senior spy in the BND, was arrested in late December last year
- Experts warn the scandal will sour relations with Germany’s partners worldwide
A German ‘double agent’ reportedly leaked British intelligence on the war in Ukraine to Russia.
The suspect known as ‘Carsten L’ was arrested on 21 December 2022 on charges of state treason after a foreign agency found a German intelligence document among Russian data.
As head of the signal intelligence wing at Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND), the spy had access to classified information from global intelligence divisions, including sensitive battlefield information from Ukraine.
Erich Schmidt-Eenboom, an expert on the BND, told The Sunday Telegraph that the scandal will have ‘deep implications’ for the German agency’s relationships with partners abroad.
British intelligence are ‘most incensed’ and will reconsider whether they continue to provide the BND with highly classified information.
German authorities arrested ‘Carsten L’ on charges of high treason at the end of last year
BND President Bruno Kahl (pictured) said releasing more on the case could benefit Russia
German authorities have embargoed any information that could alert Russia to surrounding spy activity.
Foreign intelligence chief Bruno Kahl said releasing more information about the case could benefit Russia.
Carsten L’s motives remain unclear as a result.
Federal prosecutors did not say whether information was shared with Russia before or after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Until relatively recently, Germany sought to build closer ties with Russia, using trade routes and pipelines to ensure interdependence between the two states.
Germany changed its stance after Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent in Russia in August 2020.
Pressure mounted on Germany to cancel its contentious Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline, connecting Russia with Germany via the Baltic Sea.
The project was finally paused by Chancellor Olaf Scholz in February 2022 after Russia recognised two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine.
Soon after, the Chancellor acknowledged a new ‘Zeitenwende’, or ‘turning-point awakening’, which will see a shift in Germany’s defence and security policy.
AfD leader Alice Weidel has held NATO, not Russia, responsible for the war in Ukraine
Experts warn the scandal will hurt the BND’s cooperation with partner intelligence services
Last year, Mr Scholz committed €100bn to growing Germany’s armed forces.
However, not all support a wider role for the German military overseas.
On Friday, DW reported a year-on-year spike in the number of Germany personnel seeking exemption from deployment in combat zones.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has also sought German neutrality in the war in Ukraine, calling for Germany to reopen Nord Stream 2 and to stop weapons deliveries to Ukraine.
A source told The Telegraph that the BND is investigating whether Carsten L had links to right wing extremism in Germany after an AfD pamphlet was found in a locker belonging to the spy in Bavaria.
The arrest of Carsten L is the first time a BND employee has been arrested for treason since 2014.
Markus Reichel, a German triple agent, was jailed for eight years after handing sensitive information over to both the CIA and to Russian intelligence.
The BND faced another scandal in 2015 after thieves broke into its then-unfinished Berlin headquarters – the ‘most closely guarded building site’ in Germany – and removed taps, flooding the building.
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