The Augsburg Innovation Park in Bavaria is home to the German Aerospace Center, the renowned Fraunhofer Institute, and also the Institute for Materials Research, which is housed in a new, reinforced concrete building.

This is where research is done on chemistry, on the development of polymeric and ceramic composites as well as hybrid materials, and on manufacturing technology. The materials that are being developed here are also relevant for space travel and rocket technology — areas in which intelligence services have a special interest.

In this context, Germany's Federal Prosecutor's Office has brought charges against the former Materials Research Institute employee Ilnur N.* for "secret service agent activity." The trial of the Russian-born man, whom the German tabloid press has already dubbed a "missile spy," starts Thursday in Munich.

Investigators are convinced that the Russian foreign intelligence service made contact with the defendant no later than the fall of 2019. He was said to be willing to cooperate and subsequently allegedly met regularly with his handler. Until his arrest in mid-June 2021.

That was when Ilnur N. was meeting in downtown Augsburg with his alleged handler from the Russian secret service. A special unit of the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office and officers of the State Protection Service arrested Ilnur N. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic intelligence service, had had its sights on the researcher for some time, surveilling him and tapping his phone.

Immunity for Russian agent

Ilnur N. came to the attention of the state security forces through his handler, who was under suspicion but could not be arrested, as he held a diplomatic passport and was accredited as an employee of the Russian Consulate in Munich. As such he enjoyed immunity but was later expelled by the German Foreign Ministry.

Ilnur N.'s LinkedIn profile is still accessible. It shows a serious young man with short-cropped dark hair and a well-groomed full beard, dressed in a blue-checked shirt and jacket, looking straight at the camera. The text of the profile states that he studied at Moscow State Technical University "N. E. Bauman" for four years before moving to Augsburg for his master's degree in materials science in 2014.

After graduating, he stayed in Augsburg and worked on his doctoral thesis as a research assistant from 2018 onwards. He was developing materials that can withstand extreme temperature fluctuations.

In its indictment, the Federal Prosecutor's Office writes: "In compliance with orders from his handler, Ilnur N. repeatedly passed on information on research projects in the field of aerospace technology, in particular details on the development of the European launcher Ariane."

€2,500: An agent's salary?

German weekly national Die Zeit reported that Ilnur N. made several cash payments into his bank account that coincided with meetings with his handler — €2,500 $2,840) in total. In the indictment, this is referred to as his "agent's salary."

But in her interview with Die Zeit, Illnur N.'s lawyer said the Russian agent had posed as an employee of a large bank who was interested in space travel and as such asked Ilnur N. for some technical research and translations. Ilnur N. claims that he only handed over information that was publicly available in the scientific community. Allegedly, the Russian agent also wanted to have Ilnur N.'s still unpublished doctoral thesis, which he did not receive. In this account, Ilnur N. appears as someone who unsuspectingly helped a friendly compatriot in exchange for a small payment.

Russian secret services with a total of 400,000 employees

The proceedings shed light on the activities of foreign intelligence services' activities in Germany. The latest domestic intelligence agency report states: "In addition to espionage directed against politics and various administrative offices, innovative companies and research institutions are also the focus of economic espionage by foreign intelligence services."

The report names four states as the main actors of espionage and influence directed against Germany: The Russian Federation, the People's Republic of China, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Turkey.

The activities of Russian intelligence services in Germany have remained unchanged at a high level for many years, the report continues. The capacity for intense activity is definitely there: The total number of employees of the three Russian intelligence services is estimated to stand at around 400,000.

The report also details the methods used by Russian agents. These include "harmless-looking contact cultivation, so-called conversation skimming," in order to gain background knowledge.

The Munich court has initially scheduled 12 days of hearings to find out whether Ilnur N. fell for such seemingly harmless "contact cultivation" or deliberately betrayed secrets for money. If he is found guilty of espionage, Ilnur N. faces up to five years in prison.

This article was originally written in German.

*Editor's note: DW follows the German press code, which stresses the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected criminals or victims and urges us to refrain from revealing full names in such cases.

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