Security guard at British embassy in Berlin pleads guilty for spying for Russia

Europe, News November 12, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

A security guard at the British embassy in Berlin has pleaded guilty under the Official Secret Act for passing on useful information to Russia. He has been charged with at least eight offenses including leaking secret documents.

David Smith, a 58-year-old resident of Potsdam, Germany who was working as a security guard at the British embassy in Berlin, had been collecting secret information from the embassy and passed it on to Russian intelligence. He was caught and extradited to the UK by the German police in August 2021. He finally pleaded for all eight offenses on November 4, 2022.

Smith appeared in front of Judge Mark Wall at Old Baily in London and pleaded guilty for his offenses. He stated that He had been passing sensitive information, mainly about UK civil servants, to Russian military intelligence. He said that he was directly reporting to Major General Sergey Chukhurov, and that he had been in direct contact with him between October to December 2020.

He also admitted to seven other charges relating to collecting information that might be “useful to an enemy, namely the Russian state”, including material “relating to the operation and layout of the British embassy in Berlin”.

Searches of his electronic devices show that he drafted a letter to Russian intelligence in May 2020 and offered his services. Smith had been working for the British embassy in Berlin for more than eight years before tuning into a Russian spy.

The Prosecutors said that Smith wanted to live in Russia or Ukraine and he was appalled by the LGBTQ+ rights in the UK. They claimed that the British embassy’s support of the LGBTQ+ community become Smith’s motivation behind the espionage. Defendant’s lawyer, however, told the court the defendant disputes the way that the prosecution was presenting his motivation.

^{There is a Soviet officer’s hat on top of his bookcase, with Russian-themed memorabilia on the top shelf along with a badge of the Ukrainian special police in Smith’s flat. (Image Credit: Nick Edwards/via Dailymail)}

Smith came under the limelight due to his lavish lifestyle in the last few months before getting caught. He had been receiving large sums of money for his services to Russian intelligence. After collecting substantial proof of his activities, German police raided his house in Potsdam in August 2021.

During the dramatic raid at his house, police found Russian flags, Soviet military souvenirs, and bookshelves crammed with Russian language books as well as military histories including two books about Hitler’s feared SS 12th Panzer Division which committed war crimes in World War Two.

Smith was arrested from his house while all his electronic devices were confiscated, which later proved his suspicious activities.

Smith faces a maximum jail term of 14 years for spying. A hearing is expected to take place in February 2023 to determine the basis on which Smith will be sentenced.