RT by @mikenov: 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 1

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.
faz.net/aktuell/politik/inla…

— @Shtuni Oct 17, 2026