Germany last year expelled a spy who was working under diplomatic cover at Russia's consulate in Munich, Der Spiegel newsmagazine reported on Friday.
It said the accredited diplomat was an officer of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) who was acting as handling agent for the Russian academic whose arrest on spying charges was announced on Thursday.
Der Spiegel said the expulsion took place shortly after the summer 2021 detention of Ilnur N., an Augsburg University researcher whom prosecutors suspect of having passed information about Europe's Ariane space launch vehicle to the SVR.