A Briton who worked at the UK embassy in Berlin has pleaded guilty to eight offenses under the Official Secrets Act relating to passing on information useful to Russia. David Ballantyne Smith, who lived in Potsdam, Germany and worked as an embassy guard in Berlin, was extradited to the UK by Germany after he was arrested by German police in August 2021. The 58-year-old pleaded guilty to eight offenses on November 4. Judge Mark Wall lifted restrictions on reporting Smith’s allegations on Friday after the prosecution said it would not seek a trial on a ninth charge to which Smith has pleaded not guilty. Smith appeared at the Old Bailey in London last week and pleaded guilty to one count of passing information about UK civil servants to Major-General Sergei Chukhurov, described in the indictment as the Russian military attaché in Berlin, between October and December 2020 . He also admitted seven other charges relating to the collection of information which may be “useful to an enemy, namely the Russian state”, including material “relating to the operation and arrangement of the British embassy in Berlin”. Searches of his electronic devices turned up a draft of a May 2020 letter in which he offered his services to a Russian diplomat. Prosecutors said Smith – who is said to have lived beyond his means in Germany – was motivated by hatred of the UK and its embassy, where he had worked for eight years, and had expressed sympathy for Russian authorities. . They claimed he was angry that the embassy flew the rainbow flag in support of the LGBTQ+ community. Smith’s barrister Matthew Ryder told the court that “there is a very big difference between (the prosecution) and Mr Smith as to his motives”. “His intent and why he did what he did and the seriousness of the allegations as presented by the (prosecution) are strongly disputed by Mr. Smith,” Ryder added. Smith faces a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison for espionage. A hearing is expected to take place in February 2023 to determine the basis on which Smith will be sentenced.
