Federal Minister of the Interior and Community, Nancy Faeser wants to take more decisive action against Russian spies. Faeser’s colleague Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock now apparently follows words with deeds and plans to declare more than 30 Russian diplomats persona non grata.
Foto: Annegret Hilse / REUTERS
Russian diplomats are suspected of trying to recruit informants from the political, business, scientific, and military areas to carry out intelligence, disinformation, and sabotage operations on German soil, FOCUS reports.
Germany now has more Russian spies than during the Cold War period. According to the German state security agencies, Germany has always been in Russia’s field of view. Russian special services’ activity in Germany is now much higher than it was during the Soviet Union. Moscow’s secret service residences, stationed in the embassy in Berlin as well as in several consulates, are apparently more staffed today with about 160 officers.
The federal government knows that the massive expulsion will not be without consequences. “In return, the Kremlin will declare a possibly even higher number of German diplomats,” says an official of the Federal Foreign Office to FOCUS online.
The date of deportation is still unknown. However, the German Ministry of Internal Affairs did not officially comment on the details of the planned expulsion of more than 30 Russian diplomats. This event is not planned “at this time,” said the message, which is cited by Focus Online.
In April 2022, Annalena Baerbock, succeeded in expelling 40 exposed Russian spies and diplomats from the country. In this way, Berlin reacted to the mass murder of the civilian population by the Russian military in Bucha, Ukraine.
