According to Der Spiegel, her handler at the Russian embassy was an officer of the military intelligence GRU.
Some time ago, the Berlin police arrested a spy, a German-Ukrainian businesswoman, partially identified as Ilona V. (on social media – Ilona Kopylova-Wiener, 56, a native of Dnipro).
She is believed to have used her personal connections with current and former employees of the German Ministry of Defense to gather information about military aid to Ukraine, the arms industry, drone testing sites, and other sensitive issues.
She is also accused of assisting her Russian handler in using fake documents to attend political events in Berlin and establish useful contacts.
According to Der Spiegel, her handler at the Russian embassy was an officer of the military intelligence GRU, who officially held the position of deputy military attaché.
Der Spiegel partially identified him as Andrei M. and reported that Berlin ordered him to leave the country within 72 hours.
Russia's war in Ukraine has sharply escalated tensions between Moscow and Germany, a NATO member that firmly supports Kyiv and accuses Russia of espionage through drones, sabotage, and disinformation campaigns.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, speaking during a visit to Ethiopia, stated: "We have made it clear that this is a hostile act and that intelligence activities in our country are completely unacceptable, especially under the guise of diplomacy."
"The individual in the Russian embassy has been declared persona non grata immediately."
"This indicates that we are closely monitoring Russia's actions and taking measures against it. Russia's aggressive actions have consequences."
The woman arrested on espionage charges appeared before a judge on Thursday, who ruled to keep her in custody.
According to an AFP source who knew her in this context, she was known in political and business circles as a member of an association that had long advocated for international cooperation, particularly on issues related to Russia or Ukraine.
However, the source characterized her influence as quite limited.
The source reported that she was introduced in circles associated with the "Petersburg Dialogue," once a prominent German-Russian discussion forum founded in 2001. This "Dialogue" was one of the offspring of Schröder's and Merkel's Ostpolitik aimed at the economic integration of Russia into Europe while ignoring authoritarian processes in Russia.
The forum lost its significance and eventually ceased to exist as German-Russian relations deteriorated amid the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The intensification of repression against civil society in Russia also played a role.
A representative of the Ministry of Defense confirmed that two former German military officials are still under investigation for allegedly passing secret official information to Ilona V.
According to the representative, both men – a recently retired staff officer and a former high-ranking civil servant – allegedly used their connections in the German armed forces to pass secret information to Ilona V.
However, the question of whether they knew that the information was being passed to Russian intelligence is part of the ongoing investigation, he said.
Perhaps they just wanted to please a charming lady.
