This month alone, six suspected spies have been arrested in Germany, leading to a flood of allegations of Russian and Chinese espionage.
It is particularly embarrassing for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party because its two leading candidates for the European elections in June are in the crosshairs.
An advisor to the MEP Maximilian Poor, who heads the party’s list, was arrested on suspicion of spying for China. Jian G is accused of being an “employee of a Chinese secret service.”
The public prosecutor’s office has also launched preliminary investigations against the politician himself over alleged payments from pro-Russian and Chinese sources. Mr. Krah denies any wrongdoing.
Days earlier, Petr Bystron, the second name on the AfD list, denied allegations that he received cash from the Voice of Europe website, which European intelligence said was a front for Russian intelligence.
But the allegations go far beyond the AfD.
Two German nationals of Russian origin were arrested on suspicion of conspiring to sabotage German military aid to Ukraine, while three Germans were arrested for allegedly plotting to pass advanced engine designs to Chinese intelligence.
“It’s really unusual for three networks to be arrested.” [allegedly] “I was engaged in a kind of espionage for Russia and China almost at the same time,” said Noura Chalati, a research fellow at the Leibniz Center for the Modern Orient.
In all three espionage cases, the efforts of the German domestic secret service BfV may have been decisive.
“Our security authorities … have massively increased their counterintelligence efforts,” said Interior Minister Nancy Faeser.
The arrests came shortly after Chancellor Olaf Scholz returned from extensive talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
“Arrest is always a political decision”
Andrei Soldierovan expert on the Russian security services, believes that the case of the Russian-German couple may reflect a desire by the Kremlin to escalate attacks on aid to Ukraine.
“It’s just a completely new level of escalation,” Mr Soldierov told the BBC. “These people [allegedly] collected information to organize sabotage operations against military installations on German soil.
In the meantime, Roderich KiesewetterA former Bundeswehr officer who is now an opposition MP claimed that China wanted to gain access to advanced research that could be useful for military or other purposes.
“China sees opportunities to use Germany’s openness to access our knowledge and technology,” he told the BBC.
Nevertheless, Andrei Soldierov believes that Berlin is setting an example.
“An arrest is always a political decision,” he says.
“Counterintelligence agencies in all countries prefer not to arrest people because it is better to follow them and monitor their activities to learn more about their networks and their activities.”
One reason for the political decision could be that Germany’s opponents – particularly Russia – appear increasingly interested in publicly humiliating Berlin as the country has become more assertive in its foreign relations.
A particular low point was the leak by Russian sources in March of a telephone conversation between senior generals regarding the delivery of long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine.
Months earlier, a high-ranking official from Germany’s BND foreign intelligence agency named Carsten L. was on trial, accused of passing secret information to the Russians in exchange for payments of around 400,000 euros (£343,000).
Former British defense secretary Ben Wallace expressed the frustration of many allies when he said Germany was “quite penetrated by Russian intelligence” and “neither safe nor reliable.”
Roderich Kiesewetter says he worries that allies might view Germany as untrustworthy. “We have to be a preferred partner,” he told the BBC. “We cannot afford German-free intelligence cooperation.”
Very public action against suspected spies could be a way to signal to friends and foes alike that Berlin takes security seriously.
The BND and BfV did not comment on ongoing operations. The Interior Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
legacy of history
The German secret services have long been annoyed that their options for action are more restricted than many of their counterparts in other Western countries.
This is partly a legacy of communist rule in the former East Germany – widely considered one of the most heavily policed societies in history. It is estimated that one in 6.5 East Germans was an informant for the Stasi secret police.
When the extent of Stasi espionage became known after the fall of the Berlin Wall, strict legal limits were placed on the secret services.
These restrictions largely remain in place, although some have since been relaxed.
Human rights activists see these restrictions as a good thing that protects citizens’ right to privacy. But the secret services have long complained that they cannot act effectively because their behavior is controlled.
Last year, two former BND heads wrote: “The German secret services, especially the BND, are now suffering from excessive supervision.”
Some secret services see the recent high-profile arrests as an opportunity to illustrate the extent of enemy infiltration in Germany – and a chance to reinforce their argument for more powers.
The extent of this infiltration is partly a legacy of the political “naïveté” that followed the end of the Cold War, says Kiesewetter.
“Since 1990 there has been the idea that Germany is surrounded by friends.”
Executives focused on business deals, including with autocratic countries like Russia, and overlooked national security, he said.
“Don’t sleep anymore”
Rafael Loss of the European Council on Foreign Relations takes a closer look at what went wrong.
In 2002, the German secret service completely disbanded a counter-espionage unit under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.
“It is remarkable that this entire unit of about 60 people was completely disbanded,” Mr. Loss says.
But things are changing. The BfV’s workforce has doubled in the last 10 years. The latest wave of detentions shows that intelligence services are becoming increasingly assertive in a country whose political culture has traditionally been suspicious of them.
“All the arrests at once are a good signal to the nations that are spying on us,” said Felix Neumann from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
“Germany is awake and no longer sleeping.”