A high-ranking German intelligence officer has been charged with treason for allegedly passing state secrets to Russia.

German reports claim that Carsten L received roughly €400,000 (£340,000) in exchange for sharing intelligence about the war in Ukraine with the Wagner mercenary group.

The prosecution has also charged another German suspected of acting as a courier.

There is a possibility that both men will serve life sentences.

Known only as Carsten L, the employee at Germany’s foreign intelligence service (BND) managed a department monitoring overseas telephone and internet communications.

According to Süddeutsche Zeitung and public broadcasters NDR and WDR, he was promoted to a role responsible for background checks at the agency weeks before his arrest.

Last December, Carsten L was arrested in Berlin. A month after he arrived in Germany on a flight from the US, police arrested his alleged accomplice, Arthur E.

Arthur E, a German businessman born in Russia, is accused of traveling to Moscow and sharing intelligence with the Russian spy agency, the FSB.

It has been reported that both men have been charged with treason in a particularly serious case by Germany’s prosecutor general.

Whether the case will be heard in Berlin must now be decided by a court.

Arthur E was described in German reports as a diamond trader who had “babbled like a brook” after he was arrested. In 2021, the two men first met at a private party at a Bavarian football club, and Carsten L told him about his work with the BND.

According to reports, the prosecutor’s office has filed charges, but has declined to comment.

After the invasion of Ukraine last February, Europeans have become more concerned about Russian espionage.

Spies suspected of working for the Russian government have been arrested or expelled from a number of countries, including the UK, Poland, and Norway.