Published on
21/01/2026 – 13:32 GMT+1
Police in Germany have arrested two suspected supporters of the pro-Russian “Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics” in Brandenburg, the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office said on Wednesday.
The men are accused of supporting foreign terrorist organisations, authorities in Karlsruhe said.
It is alleged that not only supplies and medical products were delivered, but also drones in favour of militiamen from the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russian forces.
At the same time, a German-Ukrainian woman was arrested in Berlin on suspicion of spying for Russia, including by passing on information on military aid to Ukraine, prosecutors said.
The suspect, named only as Ilona W. in line with German privacy laws, had allegedly maintained intelligence contacts with the Russian embassy in Berlin since November 2023 or earlier, prosecutors said in a statement.
More than €14,000 to pro-Russian militias
One of the defendants, Suren A., is accused of transferring association funds totalling more than €14,000 to the militias and financing transport.
The second, Falko H., is said to have travelled to the Donbass several times, held talks with representatives of the groups there, coordinated deliveries and helped distribute the goods on site.
The two men are to be brought before the investigating judge of the Federal Court of Justice on Thursday, who will decide whether they should be remanded in custody.
On 27 May 2025, the home of another accused person in the district of Dahme-Spreewald and other properties in Berlin and Brandenburg were searched on behalf of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Occupied territories
Russia has forged close ties with Donetsk and Luhansk, collectively known as the Donbas, since supporting a pro-Russian insurgency there in 2014 following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
The two regions receive financial support from Moscow, use the Russian rouble as their currency and teach the Russian curriculum in their schools.
Russia recognised the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics as independent entities shortly before sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022, saying it was compelled to defend Russian-speakers there against persecution.
Ukraine and Western countries called that pretext for the full-scale invasion baseless.
Only Russia and its ally Syria recognise the two republics as independent entities.
In September 2022, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin announced the annexation of four regions of Ukraine – Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia – referring to them as “new territories” and belonging to Russia.