A former security guard at the British embassy in Berlin who is accused of spying for Russia will face a trial at the Old Bailey next year.
David Smith, 57, allegedly passed secret information about the British government to a military attache.
The Briton, who was living in Potsdam near the German capital, is accused of gathering information from the embassy and passing it to someone he believed was a representative of the Russian state, as well as other alleged offences, between October 2020 and August last year. Smith is facing nine charges under the Official Secrets Act.
On Wednesday, Smith appeared before the Old Bailey by video link from Belmarsh high-security jail. Wearing a green shirt and blue jeans, he spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth before a timetable for the case was set.
Mr Justice Sweeney said a trial would take place from 13 February next year at the Old Bailey. It will be heard by a high court judge and will take up to four weeks. A plea and case management hearing was set for 29 July. After the brief hearing, Smith was remanded into custody.
Smith was arrested by German police last August, and was extradited to the UK earlier this month.
The charges Smith faces include attempting “to communicate” by letter with “Gen Maj Sergey Chukhurov, the Russian military attache based out of the Russian embassy, Berlin”.
The material he attempted to communicate allegedly “contained details about the activities, identities, addresses and telephone numbers of various members of Her Majesty’s civil service”.
Smith allegedly committed acts “prejudicial” to the safety and interest of the state by gathering information classified as “secret” about the “activities of Her Majesty’s government”.
He allegedly “collected material relating to the operation and layout of the British embassy in Berlin”, with that information thought or intended to be “useful to an enemy, namely the Russian state”.
Smith also allegedly made unauthorised photocopies of documents and video recordings of the embassy’s CCTV system and “kept sim card packaging” he had been asked to dispose of.
• This article was amended on 14 April 2022. The city of Potsdam is near Berlin, but is not “in the German capital” as an earlier version said.
