- Title: Germany arrests British embassy staff member suspected of spying for Russia
- Date: 11th August 2021
- Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (FILE - MAY 23, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF BRITISH EMBASSY WITH UNION JACK AT HALF MAST (DUE TO AN EVENT AT THE TIME IN 2017) BERLIN, GERMANY (FILE - DECEMBER 4, 2019) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF RUSSIAN EMBASSY IN BERLIN VARIOUS OF RUSSIAN FLAGS EXTERIOR OF EMBASSY WINDOWS OF EMBASSY ENTRANCE TO EMBASSY AND SIGN READING: RUSSIAN EMBASSY VARIOUS OF EMBASSY WINDOWS SECURITY CAMERAS EXTERIOR OF EMBASSY BRANDENBURG GATE SEEN FROM EMBASSY PAN FROM BRANDENBURG GATE TO EMBASSY
- Embargoed: 25th August 2021 09:54
- Keywords: Berlin British Russian embassy arrest spy spying staff member
- Location: BERLIN, GERMANY
- City: BERLIN, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Europe,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001EPU3WAV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: German police have arrested a British man who worked at the British embassy in Berlin on suspicion of passing documents to the Russian intelligence service in exchange for cash, prosecutors said on Wednesday (August 11).
German prosecutors said that the apartment and workplace of the man, identified only as David S., had been searched and he would be brought before an investigating judge later on Wednesday.
"On at least one occasion, he passed on documents he had obtained in the course of his professional activities to a representative of a Russian intelligence service," the chief federal prosecutor's office said in a statement.
"The accused received cash in an as yet unknown amount in return for his transmission of information," it added.
The man was arrested on Tuesday in Potsdam, just outside Berlin.
He was employed as a local staff member at the embassy until his arrest, which was the result of a joint investigation by German and British authorities, the prosecutors said.
Local staff at foreign embassies usually do not have diplomatic immunity.
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