#Hanning

New details emerge on the activities of former #BND chief August #Hanning, who is under investigation by #Germany’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office for suspected espionage and treason. Who his potential clients were remains under investigation. What is clear is that he maintained sustained contact with #Putin’s inner circle. - Hanning maintained privileged access to, and a degree of personal rapport with, one of Putin’s most senior and long-serving security figures. - After retiring in 2009, he continued ongoing contact with Nikolai Patrushev, a longtime close associate of Vladimir Putin (both from St. Petersburg with KGB backgrounds). - Patrushev succeeded Putin as FSB head in 1999 and later served as Secretary of the National Security Council during the 2014 Crimea annexation and the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. - Key documented contacts: - As sitting BND chief, Hanning visited the war-damaged Chechen cities of Grozny and Gudermes in 2000 (criticized by the Greens and others as taking Russia’s side). - 2014 (shortly after Crimea): Meeting with Patrushev, described by a friendly source as an attempt to warn of “negative consequences” (confirmed by Hanning’s lawyer). - 2016: Attendance at a Moscow security conference opened by Patrushev, where Hanning advocated counter-terror cooperation with Russia, criticized sanctions, and called for jointly solving the “Ukraine problem.” - 2019: Arctic Council-related visit to the Valaam Monastery (a Russian elite refuge on Lake Ladoga). A group photo shows Hanning standing next to Patrushev. - Hanning’s repeated meetings with Nikolai Patrushev—including after Crimea and while advocating cooperation with Russia on Ukraine—demonstrate a striking degree of personal access to Putin’s inner circle that is difficult to reconcile with the role of a Western intelligence chief, even if the current espionage investigation centers more on other clients. - What explains this level of access—and was it purely personal, or did it serve other purposes? The investigation may yet provide answers.

#Germany: @derspiegel adds two more pieces to the #Hanning puzzle. 1) Manfred Dankesreiter, Hanning's chief of staff at the #BND had officially been cleared to work for his allegedly treasonous former boss in his free time while still inside the service. You can't make this up. - While living with his family in Geretsried, near #Munich, he told people he was an “asset manager.” A creative cover. As they say, the closer to the truth, the better the lie. Invert it, and you get what he was — a managed asset. 2) After #Azerbaijan, now #China is in the frame. - The former BND chief is suspected of leaking secret information to China as well. - Investigators are examining whether he passed sensitive information to someone in the Chinese intelligence apparatus. - The contact named is retired Chinese major general Wang Jianzheng. - Wang served at China’s East Berlin mission (1987–1990) and later as China’s military attaché in Germany until 2013. - In a 2017 book preface, Wang thanked Hanning for “hints and explanations.” - Over the years they appeared together at a 2017 official reception and company visits in Huaibei, and on lists tied to a Europe–China conference and an advisory board for a German–Chinese eco-park in Qingdao. - What's next? Who knows. Der Spiegel's cover is spot on. This is a real abyss.

Die Dimension hinter dem Fall #BND reicht noch weiter: Wie viele Ex-Staatsdiener und Beamte versilbern sich in der #Zeitenwende gerade ihr Wissen aus der alten Verantwortung? Vielleicht schauen wir uns das dann als nächstes an? 🔍 #Hanning #Bundeswehr

Ermittler haben den früheren Präsidenten des #BND August Hanning festgenommen. Er soll sich ausgerechnet bei seiner ehemaligen Behörde Staatsgeheimnisse beschafft und das Wissen zu Geld gemacht haben.

A second photo of former #BND chief August #Hanning and Nikolai #Patrushev—Putin’s longtime security confidant who succeeded him as FSB head in 1999 and later served as Secretary of the Security Council—from the same 2019 event makes their proximity look even less accidental. - At the Valaam Monastery visit linked to the Arctic Council gathering under #Russia’s Security Council, Hanning is again positioned directly beside Patrushev in a place of honor—this time in an outdoor group photo in front of the monastery doors, among participants in matching blue jackets. - The earlier interior photo (the one I posted yesterday, and again in the following tweet, with Hanning circled next to Patrushev amid the gold of the iconostasis) already showed striking access. - This second image from the same trip reinforces that it was not a random snapshot: the retired Western intelligence chief was repeatedly placed next to one of #Putin’s longest-serving security confidants. - Patrushev succeeded Putin as #FSB head in 1999 and remained central through the 2014 Crimea annexation and the 2022 full-scale invasion of #Ukraine. - After leaving FSB in 2008, Patrushev served as the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation from 2008 to May 2024.

Die #Spionage-Vorwürfe gegen Ex-#BND-Chef August #Hanning treffen den Geheimdienst ins Mark. Auf dem Spiel steht das Vertrauen der Partnerdienste, ohne deren Hinweise Deutschland gefährlich verwundbar wäre.

Well, well, well... 👇 Former #BND chief August #Hanning is suspected of writing an analysis for #Azerbaijan’s intelligence service - Hanning had known ties to Azerbaijan, including a board role at the German-Azerbaijani Forum. - Whether any classified material actually reached Baku remains under investigation.

#Germany: Former #BND chief August #Hanning, 80, and his ex-office chief Manfred D. have been arrested on suspicion of treason and espionage. - Prosecutors say D. sold Hanning about 2,000 classified BND files after Hanning left in 2005 and that Hanning used some of the material for a foreign intelligence service. - Files included briefings on #Iran’s nuclear program and the Russian military. - The case grew out of a September 2025 search of Hanning’s home and offices by Hamburg police in the Christina Block kidnapping investigation. - Block, a steakhouse heiress, is accused of ordering the late-2023 abduction of her two youngest children in a custody dispute. - No former German intelligence chief has previously faced a treason case of this rank. - It follows another serious BND case in which Carsten Linke, a former section head is on trial with codefender Arthur Eller, a Russian-born German businessman, over alleged spying for #Russia involving cyber operations. - Prosecutors accuse them of passing classified BND material to Russia’s #FSB in autumn 2022, in the middle of the Ukraine war, including material tied to BND cyber operations. - The indictment puts Eller's payment at about €400,000 and Linke’s at about €450,000. - He was arrested in January 2023 after being stopped at #Miami airport by U.S. customs and speaking at length to the #FBI.

"Wir weisen seit Jahren auf die Probleme hin" - Interview @KonstantinNotz mit dem @NDR zum Fall #Hanning #PKGr

US intelligence has put cooperation with #Germany’s #BND under review after the arrest of former BND chief August #Hanning. - Hanning and his longtime office chief Manfred Dankesreiter were arrested in early October on charges including attempted treason and espionage - Prosecutors say Dankesreiter supplied Hanning with nearly 2,000 sensitive BND documents (many classified briefings) over ~12 years; Hanning allegedly tried to pass secrets to a foreign service in at least one case - US services warned the BND days later that existing cooperation is being reassessed (urgent terrorism info would still be shared) - The warning alarmed the BND, which relies heavily on US intelligence; some staff report a drop in volume and quality of material, though officials say relations remain normal - Investigators are still assessing the full scope of the leak and internal security failures.

💥 Scoop – After the arrest of Ex-#BND Chief August #Hanning, US #intelligence services told their German counterparts: Future intelligence cooperation will be under review. This warning sounded the alarm, as the US is still BND´s key ally. Our report:

Not a joke! 👇 Former #BND chief August #Hanning, 80, arrested on suspicion of treason and espionage warned in August 2018 of perils of intel sharing with #Austria. - Hanning apparently warned that #NATO secrets were no longer safe to share with Austria, because of close ties between senior Austrian ministers—especially in the far-right FPÖ/Freedom Party—and the Kremlin. - That lecture didn’t age well.

- Former BND chief August #Hanning has been in serious financial trouble for years. - He faced seizure of property and company shares, and part of his pension has been garnished (seized by court order) because of his supervisory-board role in #Latvia’s PNB Banka collapse in 2019. - He had sat on its supervisory board since 2017. - The insolvency administrator sought ~€32m in damages from him and eight others, alleging he negligently signed off on dubious deals. - Hanning said he was lured into a trap and misled by management. - Former #NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen was also on the board and a co-defendant. Latvian police investigated in parallel.

Der Ex-BND-Chef August #Hanning soll von seinem einstigen Büroleiter fast 2000 Geheimdokumente gekauft haben. Seit Jahrzehnten pflastern Affären seinen Weg. Aktivist*innen ist Hanning spätestens seit den Leaks von Edward Snowden bekannt:

Und wieder kommt zufällig ein Kamerateam vorbei. Unsere Behörden wollen halt transparent sein, nicht wahr? #Hanning

🔴🕵️‍♂️ Nach #Hanning-Festnahme: US-#Geheimdienste teilten #BND mit, Zusammenarbeit komme auf den Prüfstand. Im BND herrschte daraufhin Alarmstimmung, Mitarbeiter wurden angewiesen jede Veränderung in Kooperation zu melden. Unsere Recherche: #Spionage

#Germany: Update on #Hanning case. - The full name of August Hanning's chief of staff at Germany’s foreign intelligence service (#BND) is Manfred Dankesreiter. - He is 64 years old. - Dankesreiter is accused of removing nearly 2,000 classified BND documents and handing them to Hanning for payment between 2010 and June 2022. - Prosecutors have charged him with aiding and abetting attempted treason and treasonous espionage. - He coached a local men’s second team in #Bavaria to third place in their league in 2012, lives with his family in Geretsried, near #Munich, and told club associates he was an “asset manager.” - Authorities have not named the foreign service(s) involved. @derspiegel has reported that some of the material was allegedly used for #Azerbaijan. - Interesting coincidence: Carsten Linke, the former BND officer unmasked by The Telegraph in 2023 as an alleged #Russian double agent, also coached youth teams at a club near Weilheim, about 30 km from Dankesreiter’s football club, while telling people he was a soldier.

Spionageverdacht: Ex-BND-Chef #Hanning in Haft – für das Parlament will #PKGr Defizite & Versäumnisse analysieren lassen

Gestern war es Russland, heute Morgen Aserbaidschan und nun China. Diese Leaks aus deutschen Geheimdienstkreisen sind inzwischen legendär. Die Schlagzeilen schreiben sich von selbst. #Hanning

Mit der Süddeutschen Zeitung @SZ habe ich über den Verratsfall #Hanning, die potentiellen Folgen für den BND und die notwendigen Konsequenzen gesprochen.

Prisión preventiva para exjefe de espionaje de Alemania Un día después de su detención, el exjefe de los servicios de #inteligencia de #Alemania August #Hanning ha ingresado en prisión preventiva por presunto #espionaje que constituye #traición a la patria. (cp).

Intelligence agencies spend millions to infiltrate other agencies to get a hand on confidential stuff. We Azeri's just go directly to the boss😂 BND= Baku Nachrichtendienst #Hanning #espionage