The head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Thomas Haldenwang, in an interview with Funke, said that Russia is seeking to expand its influence abroad.
According to him, the department's experts recorded attempts to exert influence during the campaign on the eve of the elections to the Bundestag.
“In the beginning, false reports were spread about a number of individuals, such as the Green candidate, Ms Annalena Berbock,” the head of counterintelligence said, adding that such campaigns were unsuccessful.
According to Haldenwang, against the background of the verdict in the case of the murder of a Georgian citizen in Berlin, "it became clear to what partly harsh methods Russian structures are resorting abroad." Haldenwang stressed that espionage is increasingly becoming a "show of force".
On December 15, the Berlin Supreme Court sentenced to life imprisonment a Russian citizen accused of killing Georgian citizen Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in a Berlin park in 2019.
The indictment stated that Sokolov, whose real name is Vadim Krasikov, allegedly received an order for the murder "from state departments of the government of the Russian Federation", and Khangoshvili himself headed "the Chechen militia in the fight against Russia."
Russia has repeatedly denied accusations against Russian government agencies in this case, calling them "unfounded and groundless." At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that the Russian special services discussed with their German colleagues the issue of extradition of Khangoshvili.
bbabo.Net