Sawt Falasteen - Three face German court on Russia spying charges

The alleged ringleader, an Armenian partially identified as Vardges I., recruited a Ukrainian, Robert A., and a Russian, Arman S., prosecutors charge.

Entering the Frankfurt courtroom, Vardges I. grinned broadly and Robert A. gave the thumbs-up sign and stuck out his tongue.

The trio allegedly tried to lure the Georgia-born former soldier for the Ukrainian army to a Frankfurt cafe last year, but the alleged target became suspicious and contacted police.

"The spying operation presumably served to prepare further intelligence missions in Germany, possibly including the killing of the target," prosecutors said.

The motivation for the operation "may have been that the victim, the man who was spied on, is accused by Russia of having participated in war crimes in Ukraine against Russian soldiers", said prosecution spokeswoman Ines Peterson.

"The victim himself contacted the police here in Germany and said that he suspected being spied on by a Russian secret service."

When the Ukraine army veteran did not show up in the Frankfurt cafe, which was under police surveillance, the three men drove off, but were later stopped and arrested by police commandos.

According to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily, police found cash, several passports -- both genuine and forged -- and GPS tracking devices in their possession.

The three defendants have since been remanded in custody.

The press service of the Russian embassy in Berlin told AFP it "doesn't interfere with or comment on legal proceedings in Germany", adding that it had "no reliable information" that any of the suspects had Russian citizenship.

- On high alert -

The case comes with governments across Europe on high alert over alleged Russian espionage, drone surveillance and sabotage activities, cyber attacks and disinformation campaigns.

The state of alert has increased since Russia launched its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, leading European NATO powers to boost support for Kyiv and step up their own defence spending.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in October charged that mysterious drone flights over European airports were evidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin was trying to unsettle the continent with "hybrid attacks".

"It is Russia that is trying to destabilise us in Germany and in Europe ever more ruthlessly with hybrid methods of war," Merz said.

"We will defend ourselves against them now and in the future."

That same month, a Munich court sentenced a German-Russian man to six years in jail, and two more to suspended sentences, for helping plan attacks on railway lines and military infrastructure.

German authorities have repeatedly warned about agents supposedly recruited via social media to carry out tasks such as taking photos of key industrial and military sites.

So-called low-level agents are also thought to have been behind a plot that led to the explosions of parcels at two DHL logistics facilities in Germany and Britain last year.

W.Mansour--SF-PST