British embassy guard who spied for Russia jailed for 13 years

LONDON: A man who passed highly sensitive information to the Russian state while working as a security guard at the British embassy in Berlin was on Friday jailed for 13 years and two months in a London court.
The court heard David Ballantyne Smith, 58, collected confidential information for more than three years, including “secret” government communications with then Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other sensitive documents.
Smith pleaded guilty in November to eight offenses under the Official Secrets Act, including one charge relating to passing information to General Major Sergey Chukhrov, the Russian military attaché to Berlin, in November 2020.
The seven other charges involve collecting information which might be useful to Russia, four of which relate to an MI5 officer posing as “Dmitry,” a Russian national who was supposedly providing assistance to Britain.
Earlier this week, Smith told the court he is “disgusted with myself and ashamed of what I’ve done” and had started collecting confidential information during a dispute with colleagues and while suffering depression.
He said he had filmed the documents after drinking “seven pints of beer,” adding: “It seemed like a good idea at the time.” But he said he did not pass the documents on to anyone as “it would be knowingly damaging the UK.”