A British diplomat at the UK embassy in Berlin has been charged with Russian spying
LONDON, April 6 (Reuters) - According to London police, a British man who worked at the British embassy in Berlin has been charged with violating the Official Secrets Act by passing on information useful to Russia. David Ballantyne Smith, 57, was arrested by German police in August 2021 while working as a security guard at the embassy in Potsdam, Germany. He was extradited to Britain from Germany on Wednesday. According to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), he is accused of gathering information from the embassy with the intent of passing it on to a foreign state. Smith was charged with nine offences, according to Nick Price, the CPS's head of counter-terrorism. "He is charged with seven counts of gathering information with the intent of sending it to Russian authorities, one count of attempting communication, and one count of providing information to a person he believed was a member of the Russian authorities," he said. Smith is scheduled to appear in Westminster Magi