UK embassy guard denies passing secrets to Russia
A SECURITY guard was accused yesterday of giving secret information to the Russians while he worked at the British embassy in Germany.
David Ballantyne Smith, 57, denied collecting confidential information “useful to the Russian state”, during a hearing before Westminster magistrates in central London.
German police arrested Smith at his flat in Potsdam last August, the court was told.
He was extradited to Britain on Wednesday.
Flanked by two plainclothes officers, he showed no emotion as he pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
He asked for a hearing loop to listen to proceedings and confirmed his name and age, but added he no longer had an address.
Smith, originally from Paisley, Renfrewshire, was remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey nextWednesday.
He faces nine charges under the Official Secrets Act, including sending a letter to Berlin’s Russian military attache, General Major Sergey Chukhurov, with details of British embassy officials. The material “contained details about the activities, identities, addresses and telephone numbers of various members of Her Majesty’s Civil Service”, the court heard.
Smith is accused of committing acts “prejudicial” to the safety and interest of the state by gathering information classified as secret about the “activities of Her Majesty’s Government”.
He is also said to have “collected material relating to the operation and layout of the British embassy in Berlin”, with that information thought or intended to be “useful to an enemy, namely the Russian state”.
Repairs
Smith is further accused of making unauthorised photocopies of documents, video recordings of the embassy’s CCTV and keeping Sim card packaging he was asked to dispose of.
The charges also say he gave information about building repairs at the embassy after being approached by someone he “believed to be a member of Russian Military Intelligence (the GRU)”.
The alleged offences, each of which prosecutor Louise Gray said carried a maximum sentence of 14 years, happened between October 2020 and August 2021.