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A German court on Tuesday handed a jail sentence of one year and three months to a Ukrainian man for spying for Russia and helping prepare possible acts of sabotage.
The court in Stuttgart acquitted two other Ukrainian men who were on trial for the same plot, which involved posting test packages containing GPS trackers to Ukraine, a plan the court found was aimed at “disrupting transport and infrastructure.”
The court said the 30-year-old Ukrainian man was “most recently resident in Switzerland” and was guilty of “spying for the purposes of sabotage.”
However the time he has already spent in pre-trial detention counted towards his sentence and he will now be released.
Germany is Ukraine’s most important backer in its fight against Russia’s full-scale invasion and has been on high alert for suspected sabotage and espionage operations emanating from Moscow.
Earlier this month an explosives-laden drone was discovered near a Ukrainian cargo plane at Leipzig-Halle airport, a key military equipment transport hub.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt called the incident a “hybrid attack scenario” potentially involving a “foreign power,” but did not name Russia.
Series of drone sightings
Germany and other European countries have repeatedly observed drones flying over sensitive sites such as airports, military bases and industrial plants.
Authorities in Germany, one of Ukraine’s biggest military supporters, have said they suspect Russia of orchestrating many of the incidents as part of a campaign of sabotage, espionage and disinformation.
In July 2024 a parcel burst into flames on the ground at Leipzig airport before it could be loaded onto a DHL cargo plane, part of what security services treated as a suspected Moscow-linked arson sabotage plot.
Russia has denied being behind any such incidents.
Additional sources • AFP