News about espionage: events, facts and developments on tafs uz.
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A Hamburg court found two men guilty of espionage and attempted murder: they were preparing attacks on the head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, and the head of the German-Israeli Society, Volker Beck, on orders from Iranian intelligence services. One was sentenced to 8.5 years as the organizer, the other to 4.5 years.
Aziz KarimovThe Second Western District Military Court sentenced 54-year-old entrepreneur Sergei Mazur to 25 years in prison in a case of attempted terrorist act and preparation of an attempt on the life of an official in Kursk region. According to the investigation, the man acted on assignment from Ukrainian intelligence and was detained before committing the crime.
Aziz KarimovAccording to The Telegraph, based on data from the Global Fishing Watch platform, Russian fishing trawlers acted over critical communication cables connecting Britain with Europe and the US more than 500 times over four and a half years. The UK government published a White Paper the same day on modernising legislation to protect undersea infrastructure.
Javlon TursunovHokkaido Shimbun correspondent Yuki Imai was detained by the FSB on Sakhalin on suspicion of espionage and transferred to the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center in Moscow. Tokyo demands consular access and rejects the accusations; Moscow claims it caught the journalist 'red-handed.' The detention occurred against the backdrop of cooling relations between the two countries and the dispute over the Kuril Islands.
Sevara AzamovaGermany's Federal Prosecutor's Office announced the arrest of a Ukrainian citizen known as Vadym Yu., suspected of passing data on the production of armored vehicles, ammunition and explosives, as well as on military facilities on NATO's eastern flank, to Russian intelligence. Chancellor Friedrich Merz said such cases will recur.
Sevara AzamovaDeclassified documents released to the National Archives show that MI5 kept the NHS founder Aneurin 'Nye' Bevan under surveillance from the 1930s. The service was interested in his links with communists, and in 1949 the MI5 director Sir Percy Sillitoe personally warned Prime Minister Clement Attlee about Bevan's friendship with a convicted Soviet spy. The file was only closed in 1975, 15 years after the politician's death.
Sevara AzamovaThe UK National Archives has released documents on an operation codenamed Gospel: in March 1965, soldier and duty sergeant at the Ministry of Defence Peter Allen was arrested for selling secret plans concerning Lebanon and Kuwait to agents of the Iraqi and Egyptian embassies. He received 10 years in prison.
Javlon TursunovJapan's Foreign Ministry demanded the immediate release of a Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper correspondent detained by the FSB on suspicion of espionage. Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi — actually Toshimitsu Motegi — called the denial of consular access
Javlon TursunovPolish military counterintelligence detained in Łódź a participant of reserve officer training courses holding Polish-Ukrainian citizenship. According to Deputy Defence Minister Cezary Tomczyk, he 'clearly exposed himself' as a person scouting facilities of the Polish army. The circumstances of the case are being investigated, and espionage suspicions must be confirmed by a court.
Aziz KarimovA federal judge in San Francisco ordered 35-year-old Saudi national Abdulrahman Alfozan, accused of planting an audio recorder in an OpenAI conference room, to remain in custody. Prosecutors say he maintained contact with a member of the Saudi royal family and has 'significant backing' from a foreign state; Saudi Arabia has not responded to media inquiries.
Sardor QodirovDuring exercises of the Norwegian Home Guard near Oslo Airport, soldiers discovered that rented Chinese Deepal (Changan) cars recorded video from cameras: who got into the vehicles, routes driven, and access codes to military facilities. It is unknown whether the recordings were transmitted to third parties. The army continued using the cars until the end of the exercises and preferred local restrictions to an outright ban.
Otabek YusupovIn Hamburg, the trial continues of Christina Block, accused of organizing the violent abduction of two children from Denmark. The case has led to the biggest spy scandal in Germany in recent years: in October, former intelligence chief August Hanning was arrested on charges of treason.
Aziz KarimovA Hamburg court found two men guilty of espionage and attempted murder: according to the prosecution, they acted on behalf of Iran's Quds Force special unit. The sentences are 4.5 and 8.5 years in prison. Among the targets were Josef Schuster, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, and politician Volker Beck.
Otabek YusupovRussia's FSB detained Hokkaido Shimbun correspondent Yuki Imai in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk as he attempted to fly out of Russia. He is accused of collecting data on mobilized men and volunteers on the Kuril Islands on assignment from Japanese intelligence. On October 13, the Lefortovo court in Moscow imposed detention in custody as a pretrial measure; the espionage charge carries up to 20 years in prison.
Otabek YusupovThe FSB detained Hokkaido Shimbun correspondent Yuki Imai on Sakhalin on suspicion of espionage (Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code). The Lefortovo court ordered his detention until December 12. Japan demanded explanations and summoned the Russian ambassador; Moscow said the security services are 'doing their job'.
Otabek Yusupov
