Germany denounces an unprecedented number of military espionage attempts in the midst of the Ukraine war

COLOGNE (GERMANY), 30 (DPA/EP)

The president of the Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD) of Germany, Martina Rosenberg, has denounced this Sunday a historical record of espionage attempts, especially on military installations and mainly undertaken by Russia and China.

Rosenberg has warned that the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) are facing multiple threat scenarios, while the MAD continues to detect “numerous anomalies and espionage attempts” by intelligence services from other countries.

Recently, the MAD detected drone flights over Bundeswehr military sites and Ukrainian military training centers.

For example, the Ministry of Defense reported that in the early hours of October 1, drones had repeatedly flown over the Wildflecken military training area (Bavaria), in southern Germany.

In late August, according to previous reports, Russian intelligence services had attempted to spy on Ukrainian military training with Western weapons systems in Germany. Specifically, the MAD had observed suspicious vehicles in the vicinity of the military sites in Idar-Oberstein (Rhineland-Palatinate) and Grafenwöhr (Bavaria).

According to Rosenberg, the activities of foreign intelligence services against the Bundeswehr were already at a “high level” before February 24, 2022, that is, before Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

“The goal of our work is to detect any espionage activity, especially by Russian and Chinese intelligence services, at an early stage and to counter it effectively, also in cooperation with partner national and international authorities,” he added.