A captain in the German army stands accused of spying for Russia. The 54 year-old man in question, who, thanks to Germany’s stringent privacy laws has only been publicly identified as “Thomas H.”, says that he decided to spy for Russia because he was worried that the current war between Russia and Ukraine could escalate to the point where nuclear weapons would be used.
According to a report in The Kyiv Independent, “Thomas H.” said during his trial in Düsseldorf, which began on April 29, that “it was wrong” for him to give German secrets to his handlers in Moscow.
“Thomas H.” was originally arrested in August of last year, though public charges against him were only filed on March 19 of this year. Before his arrest, Thomas worked at a military technology facility, wherefrom he allegedly pilfered photographed copies of sensitive documents, which he then shared with the Russian consulate in Bonn, Germany. He was not allegedly compensated for this activity.
During the same time period when his espionage activities began, Thomas also apparently joined the Alternative for German (AfD), a far-right populist political party that has, according to Reuters, been accused variously of forwarding Russian interests in German and of pushing policies reminiscent of those that prevailed during Germany’s Nazi era.
Deutche Welle, the German state-owned news service, reports that Thomas began worrying about a nuclear exchange after he started watching TikTok videos produced by a pro-Russian influencer with ties to the AfD. Prompted by these concerns, Thomas contacted Russian authorities to find out when a nuclear escalation was likely to happen.
Thomas conceded in court that the prosecution’s allegations were “broadly accurate,” saying that he was in a poor frame of mind at the time he took these actions, which he now says he regrets.
Newsweek reports attempting to contact the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment, but has yet to receive a reply in the matter.
