British intelligence agencies, led by MI6, are investigating whether their confidential data or spies were compromised in the biggest espionage scandal in modern German history.

August Hanning, the former head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service, the BND, along with a current senior official at the agency identified only as Manfred D, was detained on Tuesday on suspicion of espionage and treason.

Hanning faces allegations that he unlawfully amassed thousands of classified documents over a 16-year period through Manfred D and sold a portion of those secrets to a foreign power.

German security sources noted that some of the high-level information handled by the pair originated from partner intelligence agencies abroad, raising the prospect that British and American intelligence may have been leaked.

This development has brought accompanying concerns that US and British human sources operating in the field, such as active agents or informants, could have their identities exposed through the shared information.

Matthew Dunn, a former MI6 intelligence officer, said British intelligence services would meticulously review everything shared with the BND and assess the risks.

Dunn said:

“There is no doubt that there is a major internal security review going on inside MI6 right now, looking meticulously at the intelligence shared with a very trusted liaison partner and assessing whether any of that compromises MI6-related operations and people.”

Nevertheless, the former spy stated he would be “very surprised” if this situation affected the agency’s relationship with the BND, adding that he expected the two services would act cooperatively.

He explained that during intelligence sharing, the introduction of “automatic checks and balances” mechanisms, including the redaction of information relating to sources, is standard practice.

News of the scandal has shocked the Western intelligence community. Sources described the alleged breach as a major success for a foreign power, noting that it could cause serious damage to the Western intelligence-sharing alliance.

Alongside MI6 and GCHQ, multiple US agencies are also believed to be conducting a systematic internal review of all sensitive information shared with European allies during the period in question.

According to information obtained by The Telegraph, the primary focus of these agencies is understood to be protecting sources who may have been compromised due to the alleged leak.

Similar audits are likely to be conducted by all of Germany’s intelligence-sharing partners and allies.

While it remains unclear when German authorities notified their counterparts of the security breach, it is understood to have occurred prior to Tuesday’s arrests.

German media reported that the leaked information included details regarding Iran’s nuclear programme, the Russian military, and classified documents belonging to foreign partner agencies.

The statement noted that most of the documents in question contained “confidential information prepared by the federal intelligence service exclusively for internal purposes, particularly for intelligence briefings aimed at the executive branch.”

According to the prosecution, Hanning used this information in his private consulting activities.

“In one incident, Hanning used classified intelligence provided by Manfred D to prepare an analysis for an official of a foreign intelligence service,” the statement said.

Authorities have not yet determined whether this information reached its intended recipient. On Tuesday night, Der Spiegel reported that the analysis in question was prepared for the Azerbaijani intelligence service.

Azerbaijan maintains security and intelligence partnerships with Russia, Israel, Türkiye, and the US, as well as other countries.

Hanning had previously adopted a hawkish posture towards Moscow in German national security debates.

In a 2024 interview with The Telegraph, he stated that his country had been “naive” and needed to be “awakened” to the reality of a potential war:

“People don’t realise that there is a serious danger: there is sympathy for Russia, especially in East Germany and on the far left and within the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, parts of which are demanding an end to sanctions against Russia.”

According to The Insider, Hanning travelled to Russia at least seven times after leaving the BND.

The former intelligence chief made all of these trips between 2015 and 2019, frequently spending only a single day in Moscow.

A bill proposing to enshrine neutral status in the constitution and abandon the goal of joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) has been submitted to the Ukrainian parliament.

According to a report by the Strana portal, the proposal was introduced to the parliamentary agenda by lawmaker Anna Skorokhod.

The drafted constitutional amendment stipulates that Ukraine must not participate in military alliances and must confirm that it harbours no aggressive intentions against any state.

The text notes that neutrality status should be registered through “guaranteeing non-participation in any military alliance and confirming the absence of intent to attack any country.”

While the bill submitted by Skorokhod aims to remove the NATO goal from the constitution, it envisages maintaining constitutional guarantees for the country’s course towards full European Union (EU) membership.

NATO goal in constitution took effect in 2019

The strategic goal of EU and NATO membership enshrined in Ukraine’s constitution was adopted in February 2019, during the tenure of then-president Petro Poroshenko.

The constitutional amendments in question obliged the government to implement this course and designated the president as the guarantor of the process.

Poroshenko, who assumed the leadership of the European Solidarity party in May of that year, has led the party ever since.

Advocating Euro-Atlantic integration, Poroshenko described EU and NATO membership in a 2026 assessment as one of the country’s long-term security guarantees.

Moscow insists on neutrality condition

The Moscow administration links a potential resolution to the war in Ukraine to a series of conditions that Kyiv must fulfil.

These conditions include the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions, as well as the international legal recognition of these territories, alongside Crimea and Sevastopol, as Russian soil.

Ukraine’s formal renunciation of NATO membership maintains its weight among Moscow’s primary demands.

Russian officials state that Ukraine’s neutral status must be explicitly included in future agreements.

Alternative for Germany (AfD) is reportedly debating a reform of the European Union’s structure, backing away from its longstanding demand for Germany to exit the EU and the eurozone.

An internal party strategy paper obtained by the daily newspaper Die Welt and the news agency Reuters signals a new phase in the organisation’s European policy.

The document in question was drawn up by the party’s lawmakers in the European Parliament, the Bundestag, and state parliaments, and was discussed at a meeting held last month.

The drafted proposal envisages transforming the eurozone into a looser alliance of sovereign states.

Under the plan, member states would be held more accountable for their own national debts, while the intervention powers of the European Central Bank (ECB) would be curtailed.

According to Die Welt, the initiative aims to place the euro single currency on a permanent footing anchored in individual responsibility and liability.

AfD seeks structure focused on internal market and security

According to the strategy paper, AfD advocates restricting the remit of the EU primarily to the internal market, the protection of external borders, security matters, and selected technology projects.

The party also demands that member states be granted national-level opt-outs in policy areas such as migration, social services, and fiscal policy.

Rene Aust, head of AfD’s European Parliament delegation, asserted that the document demonstrates the party’s “pro-European orientation”.

Aust noted that they wish to improve cooperation with neighbouring states, protect trade and freedom of movement, and jointly defend external borders.

In contrast, AfD lawmaker Peter Boehringer stated that the paper should not be viewed as a change of course, describing it instead as an implementation plan designed to put existing principles into practice.

The text proposes that, should the envisaged reforms fail to materialise, Germany’s future European and monetary policy should be determined by the public through a referendum.

The draft further calls for abandoning the direct popular election of members of the European Parliament, proposing instead that representatives be appointed via national parliaments.

Separatist line remains in party platform

AfD had long demanded Germany’s departure from the EU (“Dexit”) in an explicit nod to Britain’s Brexit process, advocating its replacement with a newly established European community composed of independent sovereign nations.

The party’s current official platform retains the objective of quitting the bloc and establishing a new European Economic Community if fundamental reforms cannot be realised.

A draft election manifesto had similarly argued that Germany must withdraw from EU membership to liberate the country from foreign domination.

Party co-leader Alice Weidel said in late August that the euro was an unstable currency and argued that a campaign should be mounted for Germany to exit the eurozone.

Weidel claimed that Germany was in a distinctly better economic position prior to adopting the single currency, asserting that working-class populations are currently being impoverished.

Weidel also claimed that, should they come to power, they would close national borders and withdraw from the Schengen Agreement, arguing that open borders threaten domestic security.

According to a polling average compiled by Politico, AfD ranks first across Germany with a 28% share of voter support.

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU), led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, sits in second place at 19%, while the Greens place third at 15%.

At the beginning of October, national support for the party was recorded as reaching the 30% mark for the first time, while backing for the governing CDU/CSU bloc slipped to 18%.

AfD placed first in two state parliamentary elections in September. On 7 September, the party secured first place in the state of Saxony-Anhalt with 43.8% of the vote, whereas the governing CDU recorded 17.2%, its lowest result since 1998.

AfD also finished ahead in the state election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on 20 September with 38.2%.

The Social Democratic Party (SPD) took 35.5% in the state, while the CDU, which fell to 4.9%, was shut out of a state parliament for the first time in modern German history.