BERLIN –
Russia has increasingly turned to blackmail and financial incentives to hire Germans to spy for Russia, following the blow to its intelligence services by Europe’s expulsion of some 600 Russian diplomats, Germany’s domestic security service said.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) said Russian intelligence services have been spending heavily to recruit agents in Germany, despite Western efforts to limit their operations since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Russia is working hard to compensate for the German government’s reduction in the number of Russian agents in Germany,” BfV chief Thomas Haldenwang said at a news conference.
