A former German soldier has admitted to spying for Russia out of fear of a “nuclear escalation” Ukraine.

Thomas H, 54, who was a Bundeswehr officer for equipment, IT and technical support in Koblenz, told the court that he contacted the Russian consulate on three occasions, Der Spiegel reported.

In May 2023 the German officer has saved many files on his laptop that contained “important security information” and he had taken photographs of German Air Force training documents.

The Bundeswehr officer then took the files and photographs to the Russian Consulate in Bonn and he asked for a Russian contact.

Thomas then made another two attempts to contact the Russian Consulate and used a different name this time of “Michale Mueller,” he still received no reply.

The prosecutors told the court, “He passed on information he had obtained in the course of his professional activities for it to be passed on to a Russian intelligence service.”

Der Spiegel reported that during the trial the former German officer admitted he was in a severe psychological condition which he says was “driven by fear of a nuclear escalation of the war in Ukraine.”

The accused officer said his intention was “to give the Russian armed forces an advantage against the background of the current political situation.”