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Germany arrests 2 alleged Russian spies accused of scouting U.S. military facilities for sabotage
Berlin — German authorities say they have arrested two people suspected of spying for Russia. The suspects, identified as German-Russian nationals, are accused of scouting targets for potential attacks, including U.S. military facilities in Germany, the Federal Public Prosecutor General for Karlsruhe said in a statement released Thursday.
The arrests, made by police in the Bavarian town of Bayreuth, come amid high tension between Russia and the West, more than two years after President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
The alleged spies’ stand accused by Germany of working to undermine the military support provided to Ukraine by Germany.
The individuals — identified by the German prosecutor as Dieter S. and Alexander J. — allegedly have ties to a Russian intelligence service and are accused of gathering information about potential targets for sabotage operations.
Dieter S. is accused of being in contact with a person connected to a Russian secret service since October 2023, discussing plans for attacks on military infrastructure and industrial sites in Germany. He reportedly scouted out some of the targeted sites in person, gathering photos and videos.
The detainees also scoped out potential targets for attacks, including facilities of the U.S. Army in Germany, the prosecutor said.
Reuters
Dieter S. allegedly expressed readiness to carry out explosive and arson attacks on military and industrial sites in Germany. The preparation involved gathering information on potential targets, with Alexander J. assisting since March 2024, and sharing the information with his Russian contact.
Both suspects’ homes and workplaces were searched. An additional arrest warrant was issued for Dieter S. on suspicion of affiliation with the foreign terrorist organization DPR — the Russian-backed de-facto authority in the occupied eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, which calls itself the Donetsk People’s Republic.
According to an investigation by German magazine Der Spiegel, the two suspects were spying on military sites that included U.S. military facilities in Grafenwoehr, Bavaria. Grabfenwoehr is an important training site, where U.S. forces have been helping to train Ukrainian soldiers to use U.S.-made Abrams tanks.
The arrests have raised concern about the extent of Russian espionage activities in Germany. German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser condemned the suspected espionage as a “particularly serious case” and emphasized Germany’s commitment to supporting Ukraine, despite intimidation attempts.
Harald Tittel/picture alliance/Getty
Politicians have called for a decisive response to the threat posed by Russian agents operating in Germany. Konstantin von Notz, the Green Party deputy leader and head of the intelligence control committee in the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, said a reaction would be necessary if the allegations are proven true.
The arrests in Bavaria echoed incidents in Poland in March 2023, where authorities said they had dismantled a Russian spy network that was aiming to sabotage Western arms deliveries to Ukraine.
Among the suspects were individuals with criminal backgrounds and refugees from eastern Ukraine. Polish officials said the Russian military intelligence service GRU had encouraged the individuals to install cameras along railway lines used to carry weapons and other supplies to Ukraine. Another plan appeared to involve acts of sabotage, including the derailment of trains by Russian agents.
Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Bundeswehr has received regular reports of suspicious drone activity over barracks where Ukrainian soldiers undergo training in the country, and the number of these incidents has risen sharply.
There were 172 reports of suspected drones flying around barracks during the whole of 2022, military officials said. In 2023, there were 446 reported sightings.
The Russian government had not responded Friday to the allegations against the two individuals in Germany. The country’s ambassador was summoned by the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin in response to the incident.
A state judge on Monday struck down Wyoming’s overall ban on abortion and its first-in-the-nation explicit prohibition on the use of medication to end pregnancy in line with voters in yet more states voicing support for abortion rights.
Since 2022, Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens has ruled consistently three times to block the laws while they were disputed in court.
The decision marks another victory for abortion rights advocates after voters in seven states passed measures in support of access.
One Wyoming law that Owens said violated women’s rights under the state constitution bans abortion except to protect a pregnant woman’s life or in cases involving rape and incest. The other made Wyoming the only state to explicitly ban abortion pills, though other states have instituted de facto bans on the medication by broadly prohibiting abortion.
The laws were challenged by four women, including two obstetricians, and two nonprofit organizations. One of the groups, Wellspring Health Access, opened as the state’s first full-service abortion clinic in years in April 2023 following an arson attack in 2022.
“This is a wonderful day for the citizens of Wyoming — and women everywhere who should have control over their own bodies,” Wellspring Health Access President Julie Burkhart said in a statement.
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The recent elections saw voters in Missouri clear the way to undo one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion bans in a series of victories for abortion rights advocates. Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota, meanwhile, defeated similar constitutional amendments, leaving bans in place.
Abortion rights amendments also passed in Arizona, Colorado, Maryland and Montana. Nevada voters also approved an amendment in support of abortion rights, but they’ll need to pass it again it 2026 for it to take effect. Another that bans discrimination on the basis of “pregnancy outcomes” prevailed in New York.
The abortion landscape underwent a seismic shift in 2022 when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a ruling that ended a nationwide right to abortion and cleared the way for bans to take effect in most Republican-controlled states.
Currently, 13 states are enforcing bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with limited exceptions, and four have bans that kick in at or about six weeks into pregnancy — often before women realize they’re pregnant.
Nearly every ban has been challenged with a lawsuit. Courts have blocked enforcement of some restrictions, including bans throughout pregnancy in Utah and Wyoming. Judges struck down bans in Georgia and North Dakota in September 2024. Georgia’s Supreme Court ruled the next month that the ban there can be enforced while it considers the case.
In the Wyoming case, the women and nonprofits who challenged the laws argued that the bans stood to harm their health, well-being and livelihoods, claims disputed by attorneys for the state. They also argued the bans violated a 2012 state constitutional amendment saying competent Wyoming residents have a right to make their own health care decisions.
As she had done with previous rulings, Owens found merit in both arguments. The abortion bans “will undermine the integrity of the medical profession by hamstringing the ability of physicians to provide evidence-based medicine to their patients,” Owens ruled.
The abortion laws impede the fundamental right of women to make health care decisions for an entire class of people — those who are pregnant — in violation of the constitutional amendment, Owens ruled.
Wyoming voters approved the amendment amid fears of government overreach following approval of the federal Affordable Care Act and its initial requirements for people to have health insurance.
Attorneys for the state argued that health care, under the amendment, didn’t include abortion. Republican Gov. Mark Gordon, whose administration has defended the laws passed in 2022 and 2023, did not immediately return an email message Monday seeking comment.
Both sides wanted Owens to rule on the lawsuit challenging the abortion bans rather than allow it to go to trial in the spring. A three-day bench trial before Owens was previously set, but won’t be necessary with this ruling.
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