One of the biggest scandals involving the secret services in recent years broke out in Germany. It turned out that the Russian FSB had bought nine secret documents obtained from funds of the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) for 850,000 euros.
Although several months have passed since the incident, more and more information is coming to light. In August, the Public Prosecution Service filed charges against two German citizens: Karsten Linke and Arthur Eller. Karsten Linke was an officer of the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and had a security certificate that obliged him to secrecy. However, investigation revealed that since May 2021, the man had been meeting with German entrepreneur Arthur Eller, who was in contact with Viza Mizayev – a Russian with contacts at the FSB.
The meeting of all three would take place in mid-September 2022. Subsequently, the Germans agreed to grant the Russian FSB access to sensitive information contained in the sources of the Federal Intelligence Service. According to investigators, as part of cooperation with the FSB, Karsten Linke provided the Russian secret services with nine documents from internal processing systems related to technical information.
According to investigators, Linke printed documents on his work computers or took photos of their screens twice from mid-September to early October 2022. He then passed the material on to Arthur Eller, who photographed the documents and transported them electronically to Moscow, where he passed them on to the FSB. The meetings are said to have been organized by Russian entrepreneur Viza Mizayev, who booked and financed his flights to the Russian capital and back to Germany..
It was already known that information from the BND was a state secret. The indictment emphasized that their transfer entailed the risk of a particularly serious, negative impact on the external security of the Federal Intelligence Service. The German public prosecutor’s office believes that the FSB has paid 450,000. euros for Karsten Linke and at least 400,000. euros for Arthur Eller, who collected the money in Moscow.
Visa Mizaev, named in the indictment, is the husband of Russian businesswoman Olga Belyavtseva, who is on the list of Russia’s richest women according to the Russian version of Forbes magazine. Her fortune is estimated at $600 million.
Source: Do Rzeczy
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
