Russian deputy military attaché expelled from Germany oversaw GRU spy ring

 Germany has expelled Andrei Mayorov, Russia's deputy military attaché to the country, accusing him of espionage.

Mayorov was identified as the contact of Ilona Kopylova (Wiener), a citizen of Russia, Ukraine and Germany, who was arrested previously in Berlin.

Despite his surname, Mayorov held the rank of colonel in Russia's GRU military intelligence agency — a fact that was unlikely to have been a secret to German authorities, as the roles of military attaché and their deputies at Russian embassies are traditionally filled by Russian military intelligence officers.

According to the data available to The Insider, Mayorov previously served as a paratrooper from the Pskov Region and later worked at the 162nd Military-Technical Information Center of the GRU.

Ilona Kopylova-Wiener, 56, was born in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. In Germany, she ran the consulting firm Wiener & Partner.

A well-connected networker, Wiener regularly met with prominent German business leaders and politicians. Photos show her alongside lawmakers from the leadership of Germany's main political parties and even standing behind Friedrich Merz during his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

German state investigators have said she regularly passed on information she gathered to Russian intelligence. According to the investigation, she requested details about attendees at a NATO conference held in 2023 at Berlin's Hotel Adlon. Investigators also believe she may have brought Mayorov to some of these events under a false name.

Most likely with recruitment in mind, Wiener became acquainted with Walter Storz, a former head of the 61st German Air Force Test and Evaluation Center, and with a retired Air Force officer identified as Uwe V., who had served at Büchel Air Base.

The base is considered one of the Bundeswehr's most sensitive facilities, as it houses US nuclear bombs destined for the German Air Force. It remains unclear whether Wiener obtained any valuable information from the two men. Their apartments were searched and their mobile phones seized, but neither was arrested.

Storz served as an administrator of a nonprofit organization headed by Wiener, and Weiner used her connection to her to gain access to events related to Europe's defense industry.

The Geo Post