Every day, sitting in his office in the federal parliament in BerlinCongressman Earhart Grundle looks out of the window at her building. The Russian Embassyknowing that someone might be watching his movements.

For years alone undeclared spy war takes place in the shadow of the boulevard Uder der Linden. The parliamentary security service warned Bundestag deputies not to expose their computer screens in the direction of the Russian diplomatic mission, to stop using wireless systems vulnerable to eavesdropping and close curtains during meetings.

Late last month, Russia protested the “massive” expulsion of its diplomats from Berlin. This step by the German intelligence services indicates a new determination on the part of the government. Salts to put an end to the hitherto almost uncontrolled activities of Russian spies on German soil.

Russian hacker groups have penetrated the websites of German parliamentarians and the Bundestag itself at least twice, with the second occurring just months before the 2021 elections won by Olaf Scholz. A few years ago, a Georgian MP was killed in a city park, and in 2021, police arrested a British embassy guard who was spying for Russia. At the end of last year, it turned out that a German intelligence officer leaked information to Russia about war in Ukraine.

Intelligence analyst Stefan Meister believes that the German government’s dismissive attitude towards the country’s intelligence services will take years to correct the situation. In 2000, Meister recalls, there was not a single Russian-speaking officer in German counterintelligence. President of Russia Putinwho served in the ranks of the KGB in East Germany, has always considered Germany the main target for espionage activities.

The Russian embassy has also been the scene of suspicious deaths. Two employees died after falling out of the windows of a building of Stalinist architecture. The German counterintelligence agency said in a recent documentary that it visually confirmed the presence of electronic surveillance equipment on the roof of the Russian embassy, ​​possibly to intercept conversations and data from the offices of members of the neighboring Bundestag.

Efforts to counter Russian espionage are also complicated by the federal nature of the German state, with each state having an autonomous intelligence service with different priorities. The Kremlin’s use of disinformation techniques, such as the media’s use of the migrant crisis to promote the far-right AfD, must be countered by constitutionally mandated but determined initiatives. After all, party members were regular guests at dinners at the Russian embassy before the invasion of Ukraine. Many of these deputies currently hold important positions in parliamentary committees.