Germany arrests Russian spy suspect

BERLIN » An employee of the British Embassy in Germany has been detained on suspicion of slipping documents from his workplace to Russian intelligence, Germany’s federal prosecutor said Wednesday in the latest case of suspected espionage involving agents from Moscow.

The man, a 57-year-old British citizen identified only as David S. in keeping with German privacy laws, was detained Monday in Potsdam and his home and office were searched, the prosecutor said in a statement. The authorities said they suspected he had been working as a spy since at least November and that he was suspected of handing over documents from the embassy to a member of Russia’s intelligence agency in exchange for an undisclosed amount of cash.

The arrest is the latest in a spate of detentions as German authorities move against Russian agents. Germany’s domestic intelligence service has grown increasingly concerned that Moscow is stepping up its efforts to win over Western collaborators to gain information about the country’s economic, political and strategic positions, as well as those of the European Union.

Much of the focus has been on the threat of cyberespionage after hackers linked to Russia were suspected of breaching the German government’s main data network and the country’s parliament. But experts in Germany say that Moscow is again employing old-fashioned human contact to gather intelligence.