U.S. M1A1 Abrams tanks arrive at Grafenwoehr, Germany, in May 2023 to be used to train Ukrainian soldiers. Three German-Russian dual nationals were charged this month with spying on the U.S. Army training area in Grafenwoehr for the Kremlin. (U.S. Army)
GRAFENWOEHR, Germany — Three men have been charged with spying on U.S. military bases for Russia and plotting attacks on American personnel in retaliation for Western support of Ukraine, German prosecutors said.
The men, identified only as dual German-Russian nationals Dieter S., Alexander J. and Alex D., were charged Dec. 9 in the Munich Higher Regional Court with suspicion of working for a foreign intelligence agency, according to a statement Monday from the German federal prosecutor’s office.
Dieter S., who prosecutors say was the plot’s ringleader, was also charged with acting as a sabotage agent, conspiracy to cause an explosion and arson, declaring his willingness to interfere with rail traffic and endangering security by taking pictures of military installations.
The case first made headlines in April after Dieter S. and Alexander J. were arrested in Bayreuth, about 20 miles northwest of Tower Barracks in Grafenwoehr, the prosecutor’s office said at the time. Police raided the men’s homes and workplaces.
The pair surveilled U.S. military facilities, including the Army training area in Grafenwoehr, with the intention of disrupting NATO logistical support to Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia, German news magazine Der Spiegel reported in April. Ukrainian forces receive combined-arms and weapons training there.
German law enforcement officials typically withhold the full identity of suspects due to the country’s strict privacy laws.
Dieter S. became acquainted with a Russian intelligence agent while battling Ukrainian forces starting in 2014 as a member of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, the prosecutor’s office statement said.
Donetsk is a province in eastern Ukraine that has been the scene of heavy fighting since the 2014 Russian invasion, which served as a precursor to the ongoing full-scale war that the Kremlin launched in February 2022.
Dieter S. was charged Oct. 18 with suspicion of membership in a foreign terrorist organization, the Donetsk People’s Republic, the statement said.
The group is reported to have used violence against civilians and was often involved in “intensive confrontations,” according to German authorities.
In October 2023, Dieter S. began exchanging information with the agent about possible sabotage in Germany and scouted potential targets, prosecutors allege.
He passed on images of military transports and goods to his Russian handler, said he was willing to carry out bomb and arson attacks against military and industrial sites, and promised to attack railway lines used to move military equipment, authorities said.
Alexander J. and Alex D. began helping in March, the statement said. Prosecutors did not specify what that help entailed. Of the three, Alex D. is the only one who remains at large.
Stars and Stripes reporter Marcus Kloeckner contributed to this report.
