By Louisa Off
MUNICH (Reuters) -A German of Russian ethnic background was convicted of spying and planning arson attacks on military installations and railways in Germany on behalf of Russia and sentenced on Thursday to six years in prison.
Two accomplices were given suspended sentences of 12 and six months by a court in the Bavarian state capital Munich.
Prosecutors said the main defendant, named only as Dieter S. under German law, had scoped out military infrastructure in Germany over six months from the end of 2023, receiving help from his accomplices in the final weeks before his arrest.
“The court found that the accused Dieter S., but also his accomplices, were aiming to spread fear in the population with the ultimate aim of triggering a political decision to stop supporting Ukraine,” court spokesperson Laurent Lafleur said.
Security services across Europe have warned of a growing threat from Russian intelligence agencies they say are trying to deter Western powers from backing Ukraine against Russia’s full-scale invasion launched in February 2022.
Meanwhile on Thursday, a court in Frankfurt began the trial of three men – Ukrainian, Armenian and Russian citizens – charged with spying on and possibly planning the killing of a Ukrainian soldier in Germany.
In the Munich case, prosecutors said Dieter S. had earlier spent time fighting in the ranks of pro-Russian separatist forces in Ukraine between 2014 and 2016. The court also convicted him of involvement in a foreign terrorist group.
The defendants denied all charges, saying they had been joking ironically when discussing their spying plans. Dieter S. said his fighting in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, now mostly under Russian occupation, had merely been “theatre”.
(Reporting by Loisa Off; writing by Thomas Escritt; editing by Mark Heinrich)
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