A former Bundeswehr officer from Koblenz was sentenced to 3.5 years for spying for Russia by passing classified information from the Bundeswehr Procurement Office.

On or around May 27, 2024, the Oberlandesgericht Düsseldorf sentenced a former 54-year-old Bundeswehr officer from Koblenz to three and a half years in prison for espionage. He was found guilty of acting as an agent for Russian intelligence by passing classified information from his position at the Bundeswehr Procurement Office in Koblenz to the Russian General Consulate in Bonn and the Russian Embassy in Berlin starting May 2023. The defendant admitted to the charges, motivated by fear of nuclear escalation in the Ukraine war, and stated he regretted his actions. The court followed the prosecution's demand for the sentence. The suspect had independently initiated contact with Russian intelligence based on a social media message and sought to secure his family's safety. The case illustrates a penetrative HUMINT espionage operation targeting German military supply information.