Germany closes his eyes on Russian spies so as not to lose agents in the Russian Federation - the media

According to the journalists, the issue of a Russian visa, whom counterintelligence was not asked to be allowed into the country, did not approve of Western special services. The German government issued an entry visa of the Russian, suspected of espionage, Spiegel writes. This decision can complicate Germany's relations with Western special services.

The fact is that the government has ignored the warning of the intelligence service of one European country and the Federal Office for the Protection of the German Constitution (BFV), which is engaged, in particular, counterintelligence. According to the newspaper, the Russian first appealed to Moscow for a visa in July, giving an invitation from the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Leipzig.

During the examination of the submitted documents, the special service classified it as a spy, so the visa was refused. Then, during the negotiations on the accreditation of the German Embassy employees in the Russian Federation, the Russian side demanded a visa to this man. In August, he filed a new statement. For the second time, the German consulate did not notice suspicion of espionage, so they issued a visa.

When it became known, an internal investigation was conducted, which concluded that the BFV warning was ignored by error. The consulate was recognized as a mistake and the visa was canceled. However, this incident is likely to cause dissatisfaction with Western security services that do not want to put up with the fact that Germany ignores the warning of other European countries. Journalists emphasize that Germany is considered quite loyal to Russian spies in the country.

The reason is that the expulsion of its agents of the Russian Federation corresponds to mirror, sending the same number of German diplomats from the country, including special services. But there is a problem: Moscow has accredited much more diplomats in Germany than Germany has in Russia. Therefore, in the case of the exaltation of a large number of suspected espionage in favor of the Russian Federation Berlin's representation in Russia can be liquidated.

According to the Western special services, there are so many Russian agents that are masked by diplomats as in Germany in any other European country: there may be more than a hundred. Therefore, the exchange between European states about persons suspected of espionage is important. Obviously, the exchange of information worked in this case. However, the Germany apparently ignored the warning because she wanted to accredited her diplomats in Moscow and had to let Russian diplomats instead.

It is possible that the issuance of a visa has been connected with the desire to thank the Russian side, states the publication. This is clearly disliked by other countries that believe that all Russian diplomats that go to the West at this crisis are likely to have experience in intelligence. It should be reminded that according to the head of the UK Foreign Intelligence Service Mi-6 Richard Mura, Russia has half reduced the opportunity for espionage in Europe.