Germany has expelled 400 Russians since full-scale war in Ukraine began, including 80 diplomats linked to intelligence
In addition to 80 employees of diplomatic missions, Germany has also deported 313 Russian citizens since 2022, bringing the total to about 400 people.
Germany expelled about 40 Russian diplomats after the Bucha massacre during the occupation in March 2022.
The most recent expulsion of Russian officials took place in January 2026, after German authorities detained 56-year-old Ilona V., head of the consulting firm Wiener&Partner, who regularly met with prominent German businesspeople and politicians.
According to investigators, she deliberately collected military information in Germany related to Russia's war against Ukraine and passed the data to a contact at the Russian embassy.
In particular, she collected information about participants in a NATO conference held in 2023 at Berlin's Adlon hotel, as well as about the locations of German defense industry companies, drone tests, and planned drone deliveries to Ukraine.
Background
As previously reported, suspicious drone flights over military facilities in Germany are detected regularly, including over naval bases and sites where Ukrainian troops have received training. German security authorities suspect that some of these incidents may involve Russian state structures or so-called one-off agents recruited by them, with the possible aim of conducting reconnaissance of military and critical infrastructure, including in preparation for potential acts of sabotage.
On the night of August 5, operations at Leipzig Airport in Germany, an important logistics hub for transporting Western aid to Ukraine, were suspended after a drone was detected near a Ukrainian transport aircraft.
US intelligence has linked the drone to Russia.
That same night, another incident occurred: a cargo plane, unable to land due to the airport closure, collided with another object several hundred meters above the ground near the airport.
Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that no one was injured and that Antonov aircraft were not damaged. German authorities have not ruled out possible sabotage.
German outlets WDR, NDR, and Süddeutsche Zeitung, citing a confidential police report, claimed that the Ukrainian An-124 was carrying ammunition that had recently been delivered from France to Leipzig and was then supposed to be transported onward. On July 7, Germany's Interior Ministry denied this information.
Moreover, several suspicious drone flights were detected overnight on Friday over a Bundeswehr military site in Mechernich, North Rhine-Westphalia, where Patriot air defense systems are serviced and repaired.
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10 of August 2026
