GBA: Arrest of Two Suspected Supporters of the Foreign Terrorist Organisations "Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics"

Karlsruhe (ots) - Today (21 January 2026), the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office had agents of the Federal Criminal Police Office arrest

Russian national Suran A. and

German national Falko H.

in Dahme-Spreewald and Märkisch-Oderland (Brandenburg) Counties in execution of arrest warrants issued by the Investigating Judge at the Federal Court of Justice on 12 January 2026. The suspects' premises are also being searched.

They are strongly suspected of membership in a foreign terrorist organisation (section 129a para. 1 no. 1, para. 5, section 129b para. 1 sentences 1 and 2 of the German Criminal Code).

The arrest warrants essentially set out the following allegations:

Since 2016, Suren A. and Falko H. assumed senior positions in an association that organised the transport of supplies and medical products, but also drones, to the Donbass in support of militiamen of the "Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics". The "Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics" are pro-Russian groups which have claimed control over the Ukrainian Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts since spring 2014, with the intention to break away from Ukraine, and engaged in intense battles with the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In doing so, the groups repeatedly used violence against the civilian population as well. They were integrated into the command structures of the Russian Armed Forces in late 2022.

Suren A. transferred association funds worth over EUR 14,000 to the "Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics". In addition, he financed the transport of goods for the local militias. Falko H. travelled to the Donbass several times for talks with representatives of the "Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics" and took on supply contracts. Furthermore, he regularly participated in the on-site distribution of goods.

The suspects are due to be brought before the Investigating Judge at the Federal Court of Justice tomorrow, who will be reading out the arrests warrants to them and deciding on the enforcement of pre-trial detention.

In this context, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office had an apartment of another suspect in Dahme-Spreewald County (Brandenburg) as well as other premises in Berlin and Brandenburg searched on 27 May 2025.

Rückfragen bitte an:

Der Generalbundesanwalt beim Bundesgerichtshof (GBA) Dr. Ines Peterson Oberstaatsanwältin beim BGH Brauerstr. 30 76135 Karlsruhe Telefon: 0721 8191-4100 Fax: 0721 8191-8492 E-Mail: presse@generalbundesanwalt.de http://www.generalbundesanwalt.de/

Weiteres Material: http://presseportal.de/blaulicht/pm/14981/6200814 OTS: Der Generalbundesanwalt beim Bundesgerichtshof (GBA)