Germany’s domestic security agency on Tuesday warned against
the risk of an “aggressive Russian espionage operation” as Moscow wages its
full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Western sanctions against Russia and their support for
Ukraine’s military efforts meant the Kremlin had an “increased interest” in
information gathering, the Federal Office for the Protection of the
Constitution (BfV) said in its annual report.
“Russia’s war in Ukraine represents a new era for domestic
security as well,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in the foreword to the
report, picking up a term used by Chancellor Olaf Scholz to describe Germany’s
more active foreign policy stance in the wake of the invasion.
“In times of war the leadership in the Kremlin relies on the
work of the Russian intelligence services,” Faeser said.
“In future, a more clandestine and aggressive Russian
espionage operation is to be expected as well as cyberspace activities
originating from Russia,” the BfV said.
Russian intelligence services were trying to “bring new
employees to Germany”, as well as pursuing or renewing activities with existing
staff.
In mid-April, Berlin expelled a number of Russian diplomats
over espionage concerns, prompting the tit-for-tat expulsion of 20 German
diplomats from Moscow.
A month later, Russia put a limit of 350 on the number of
German personnel allowed in Russia, in effect forcing hundreds of civil
servants and local employees working for German institutions in Russia to leave
the country.
Berlin swiftly retaliated, ordering four of Moscow’s five
consulates in Germany to close.
While Moscow’s war had shaped the BfV’s counter-espionage
work, the agency also named China as one of the four “main actors” spying on
Germany.
Beijing was the “biggest threat in relation to economic and
scientific espionage and foreign direct investments in Germany”.
“The structure, armament and training” of the German army
were also on the agenda for Chinese intelligence services, the BfV said.
The other two main espionage threats were Turkey and Iran,
while Faeser also pointed to North Korea as a country that was “heavily
involved in intelligence operations” in Germany.
Both Iran and Turkey were focussed on individuals and groups
considered to be part of the political opposition to the government, the BfV
said.