The arrest of a British citizen in Berlin for allegedly spying for the Russians has a distinctly cold war flavour.
In recent years the Kremlin has been accused of carrying out a number of spectacular cyber-operations. They include the hacking and dumping in 2016 of thousands of Democratic party emails. Moscow’s audacious goal, according to Washington: to help elect Donald Trump as US president.
But alongside these dramatic 21st-century plots Russia has continued to quietly practise what might be called workaday espionage. The 57-year-old man arrested on Tuesday was based at the British embassy in Berlin. He was not a diplomat. His precise role has not been officially revealed but he appears to be a lower level employee.
The Briton – identified only as David S – was caught after handing over documents for cash to a Russian intelligence officer, prosecutors allege. The episode would be entirely in keeping with the Kremlin’s playbook, which in many respects is unchanged since KGB times. During the communist era eastern bloc spy agencies would typically target western embassy staff working in junior roles. Only rarely did they recruit high level contacts.
“This is old-style espionage,” said David Clark, a former special adviser to the late foreign secretary Robin Cook. “You find a human source who is willing to be persuaded to do this for money from an intelligence service.
“We have become very used to the idea that everything is done in the virtual world of hack and leak. This feels like a bit of a throwback.”
East Germany’s secret police – the Stasi – specialised in sending “Romeo” agents to seduce secretaries working in the west German capital, Bonn. This undercover campaign was wildly successful. Secretaries were sometimes persuaded to hand over documents and embassy correspondence to their lovers. The secretaries were, in effect, choke-points for all kinds of sensitive information.
According to Clark, the embassy worker arrested in Berlin might well have handed over significant material to Moscow. “It would be wrong to assume he didn’t have access, just because he was a low-level officer. If you can get to the person who shreds documents, for example, you can get the documents. Or you recruit the cleaner who empties the bins at the end of the day and who does menial tasks.”
The Berlin spy scandal may be the latest in a series of similar recent episodes all across Europe. Last August, Norway expelled a Russian trade official on suspicion of spying. He had allegedly met a Norwegian national in an Oslo pizza restaurant, and had persuaded him to hand over sensitive details of oil and gas projects, in exchange for cash. The Norwegian was arrested. Moscow said the expulsion was unjustified.
During the same month the French government arrested a senior military officer over what it said was a “security breach”. The French officer who was stationed with Nato forces in Italy was spotted meeting with a Russian working for GRU military intelligence. Over in Austria a retired former colonel was jailed last year for three years. He shared details of Austria’s weapons systems in exchange for about €280,000 (£250,000).
In 2018 the UK government and its allies expelled more than 150 Russian spies after the novichok poisoning in Salisbury of Sergei and Yulia Skripal. It was the biggest ever collective dismissal of hostile intelligence officers. The UK kicked out 23 diplomats from the Russian embassy in London.
In theory, the move dealt a crushing blow to Russia’s extensive espionage network and to its ability to recruit western sources. In reality, however, it appears merely to have won a little breathing space. Since then Russia has stealthily rebuilt its intelligence capabilities, sending in new faces and testing out different avenues, analysts believe.
“After a while the Russians get back up to speed,” Clark said. “Theresa May’s punitive actions over Salisbury were never going to be a long-term answer to this kind of thing.”
Meanwhile, there seems no appetite from the current occupant of Downing Street to take meaningful action against Russian espionage. As the shadow home secretary, Nick Thomas-Symonds, pointed out on Wednesday, Boris Johnson has so far ignored the recommendations of last year’s Russia report.
The document by parliament’s intelligence and security committee argues the government needs to do more to counter aggressive behaviour by Moscow.
Vladimir Putin’s spy agencies are not all-seeing and all-knowing. But they have plenty of experience and an opportunistic approach. If there is a weakness – human or technical – they will try to exploit it.
Shadow State: Murder, Mayhem and Russia’s Remaking of the West by Luke Harding is published by Guardian Faber (£14.99). To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com. Free UK p&p over £15
