A security guard at the British Embassy in Berlin has been accused of spying for Russia and extradited to the United Kingdom to be brought to justice, the British Prosecutor's Office reported Wednesday.
David Smith, 57, was arrested by German police on August 10, 2021, accused of collecting information in the British legation to provide it to a foreign state, namely Russia.
The Prosecutor's Office charges him with nine counts, including that of passing information to a person believed to represent the Russian State.
Collaboration between the London Metropolitan Police and the Public Prosecutor's Office enabled formal charges to be filed on 15 November last year after obtaining the approval of the Attorney General.
The head of the Special Crimes and Counter-Terrorism Division of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Nick Price, explained in a statement that the allegations against the suspect concern violations of the Official Secrets Act.
“He is accused of seven crimes of collecting information with the intention of sending it to the Russian authorities, one of attempting to communicate and another of providing information to a person he believed was a member of the Russian authorities,” he added.
“After reviewing the case and clearing the charges, we obtained the extradition permit and cooperated closely with our German counterparts to bring Smith back from the UK,” Price explained.
The accused will appear tomorrow, Thursday, before the Westminster Magistrates Court.
Last Tuesday, the EU countries, Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland and the Czech Republic expelled dozens of Russian diplomats suspected of espionage , in a coordinated action taken in the shadow of the Moscow war in Ukraine.
Belgian Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmes said her country was expelling 21 diplomats from the Russian embassy in Brussels and the consulate in Antwerp, giving them two weeks to leave.
She said the move was taken in conjunction with neighboring Holland, whose Foreign Ministry said it was expelling 17 Russian diplomats considered “secretly active” as intelligence officers.
Ireland's Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said that four “senior officials” of the Russian embassy in Dublin had been told to leave because they participated in activities “that do not... are in accordance with international standards of diplomatic conduct”, code of espionage.
And the Czech Foreign Ministry said that a diplomat from the Russian embassy in Prague had been given 72 hours to leave. A Czech official told AFP that the diplomat was the deputy ambassador of Russia.
“Together with our allies, we are reducing the presence of Russian intelligence in the EU,” the Czech ministry tweeted.
(With information from EFE)
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