- A security guard has admitted spying for Russia while working at the British Embassy in Berlin, according to BBC News.
Prosecutors alleged David Smith, 58, had wanted to hurt the UK and the embassy where he had worked for eight years.
The Briton was accused of collecting intelligence about the embassy and leaking secret documents.
Smith pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to eight charges under the Official Secrets Act.
He is said to have wanted to live in Russia or Ukraine during the time he passed on secret intelligence from May 2020.
Prosecutors said he was driven by an intense hatred for his country and angered by the flying of the Rainbow flag in support of the LGBT community.
He was arrested in August 2021 and 800 euro (£700) of cash was found in his home in Potsdam, Germany.
Smith, now of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to the charges on 4 November, but reporting restrictions were initially put in place.
They were lifted on Friday after the prosecution indicated it would not seek a trial on a ninth charge that he had denied.
Smith will be sentenced at a later date and faces a maximum of 14 years in prison.
The charges laid against Smith stated he had communicated with General Major Sergey Chukhurov, the Russian military attache based out of the Russian Embassy in Berlin in 2020 – giving information about the addresses, phone numbers and activities of various British civil servants.
He collected intelligence on the operation and layout of the embassy, which was said to be useful to “an enemy, namely the Russian state”.
Some of this material was classified as “secret” and related to the activities of the British government and its German embassy.
Image source: BBC News
