German Court Convicts Ukrainian in Espionage Case, Acquits Two
A Ukrainian man was convicted of espionage in Germany for sending GPS trackers, while two co-defendants were acquitted.
A German court has convicted a Ukrainian national on espionage charges, sentencing him to one year and three months in prison. The verdict was delivered on Tuesday by the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court, which also acquitted two other Ukrainian citizens who were tried alongside him.
The conviction stems from an incident in March 2025, when the man was accused of sending packages containing GPS trackers to Ukraine through a Ukrainian postal service. According to the Federal Prosecutor's Office, the men were allegedly part of a broader sabotage plot targeting the postal service's transport routes.
During the trial, the presiding judge stated that the court believed the convicted man had arranged for the shipment of two packages containing GPS transmitters. The judge noted that the defendant must have been aware these devices could be used to spy on targets for potential acts of sabotage. Furthermore, the court found that the man should have realized he was receiving orders through an intermediary from a Russian government agency.
The Federal Prosecutor's Office alleged that a Russian intelligence service had issued the orders via intermediaries from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. The objective was to gather intelligence on the parcel delivery service's routes and transport procedures.
Investigators said the next phase of the alleged plot would have involved sending packages containing incendiary devices designed to ignite during transport. According to the indictment, these packages were intended to cause maximum damage in Germany or en route to parts of Ukraine not under Russian occupation, aiming to undermine public confidence in security.
While the indictment claimed the three men had agreed to send the packages, they were exposed during the preparatory stages. The court found no concrete plans for actual acts of sabotage. As a result of time already served in pretrial detention, the convicted man will not face additional prison time.
This case follows a 2024 incident in which Western security officials suspected Russian intelligence of orchestrating a plot to place incendiary devices on cargo planes bound for North America. One such device caught fire at a courier hub in Germany, and another ignited in a warehouse in England.