August Hanning, a former head of Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND) who has been arrested on suspicion of espionage and treason, maintained contacts for years with Nikolai Patrushev, one of Vladimir Putin's closest associates, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS) reported on October 17.
Hanning headed the BND from 1998 to 2005 and subsequently served as a state secretary at Germany's Interior Ministry until 2009. After leaving government service, he worked as a security consultant.
According to FAS, Hanning may have met Patrushev while still running German intelligence. Their contacts continued after Hanning left public office in 2009.
The former BND chief met Patrushev again in 2014, shortly after Russia's annexation of Crimea. In 2016, Hanning attended a security conference in Moscow, where he advocated cooperation with Russia on counterterrorism and criticized Western sanctions.
Both men attended an event connected to the Arctic Council in 2019. FAS found a photograph showing Hanning alongside Patrushev.
German law enforcement authorities detained Hanning and his former chief of staff on October 6, 2026. Investigators suspect the former BND director of obtaining classified documents and potentially passing information to foreign intelligence services.
According to German media reports, Azerbaijan may have been among the intended recipients of the information. Federal prosecutors have not publicly identified the countries to which the material may have been passed.
FAS emphasized that Hanning's contacts with Patrushev do not prove that he supplied classified information to Russia. Sources in Germany's security services reportedly believe that Russia was probably not an intended recipient of the documents involved in the criminal investigation.
It is unclear whether Hanning continued meeting Patrushev after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The investigation is ongoing. Hanning has not been found guilty by a court.