The expulsion of a Russian diplomat accused by Germany of alleged espionage will not go unanswered, the Russian embassy in Berlin said today, quoted by Reuters, BTA reports.
The embassy added that Germany "has chosen a further escalation of Russian-German relations, using an obviously fabricated pretext to do so."
The diplomatic mission confirmed that its head, Sergei Nechaev, was summoned to the German Foreign Ministry in connection with the detention of a woman suspected of espionage in favor of Russia, TASS reported.
In a comment by the embassy on its channel on "Telegram" It is said that the Russian ambassador was "handed a protest note in connection with the detention by German law enforcement agencies of a citizen of Germany and Ukraine, suspected of espionage in favor of the Russian Federation, and an embassy employee who allegedly led her was declared persona non grata".
The embassy "rejects this as a ridiculous and inept provocation aimed at discrediting the Russian diplomatic mission in the context of the "spy mania" actively fueled in Germany and defines the claims made as absurd", the commentary says.
It adds that the information mentioned in the case, in particular about the supply of weapons and military equipment to Ukraine "is of an open nature" and "has been regularly published on the website of the German Ministry of Defense, and is currently being reported in detail by the German media."
The German Foreign Ministry has confirmed the information about the expulsion of an employee of the Russian embassy from Germany, TASS reports.
According to the magazine "Spiegel", this is the deputy military attaché of the embassy, who is suspected of working for the Russian special services and must leave Germany within 72 hours.
The Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany detained a woman with dual German-Ukrainian citizenship in Berlin yesterday on suspicion of espionage in favor of Russia. According to the data of the German Prosecutor General's Office, it is a woman named Ilona V. Today, the German Prosecutor General's Office ordered her arrest. According to the investigators, the woman maintained contact with the Russian special services, passing on information related to the conflict in Ukraine, including data on various political rallies in Germany.
The investigators also claim that Ilona V., in order to collect information, contacted retired employees of "divisions of the German Ministry of Defense" with whom she was acquainted, TASS notes.