The German The Ministry of Economy has asked the German secret service (BfV) to investigate two high-ranking officials of the ministry due to concerns about their possible ties to Russia, reports the weekly newspaper Die Zeit.
THE Die Zeit citing its own researchreports that finance ministry officials had approached the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) in the spring, which is responsible for espionageabout officials and their rumored pro-Russian stance on issues such as the bailout of the Uniper group (Germany’s largest natural gas importer) or state intervention in Gazprom Germania.
THE Die Zeit did not name the officials.
The BfV has looked into the officials’ backgrounds, personal relationships and travel records and has so far found no hard evidence of espionage or corruption, Die Zeit reports.
The detailed study of their background by the services showed that one of the two suspects had studied at Russia. The two officials are also said to have an “emotional closeness” to Russia, the German newspaper said.
The Ministry of Economy, which stated that it does not comment on special cases, stated that it maintains close contacts with the BfV since the start of the legislative period as the ministry operates under the constant scrutiny of the BfV due to its responsibility for energy security.
“Furthermore, the new administration has completely revised the Russia-friendly policy of the previous government,” a ministry spokesman said.
“All the efforts of the new administration are aimed at reducing dependence on Russian natural gas. This policy is strictly enforced”the spokesman said.
Germany has been rocked in recent years by various espionage cases attributed to Russia.
German justice in late October gave a former employee of a computer security company a two-year suspended prison sentence for passing data to Russia concerning the German parliament.
In April, he also gave a Russian scientist a one-year suspended prison sentence for spying on the European Ariane space program on behalf of Moscow.
The charges of cyber espionage against Moscow they had also weakened Russo-German relations, even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The dependence of Europe’s largest economy on Russian gas supplies has proved a weak point for the country since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Source: News Beast
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