German cybersecurity chief Arne Schoenbohm sacked over alleged Russia ties
Germany's cybersecurity chief was sacked on Tuesday after a TV satire show accused him of having ties to Russian intelligence services, with the country on high alert over potential sabotage activities by Moscow.
Arne Schoenbohm, head of the Federal Cyber Security Authority (BSI), had been at the centre of intense speculation since the popular show accused him in early October of contacts with Russia.
He has now been relieved of his duties "with immediate effect", an interior ministry spokesman told AFP on Tuesday, citing "the allegations revealed and widely discussed in the media" as one of the reasons behind the move.
The allegations "have permanently damaged the necessary public trust" in Schoenbohm as head of the authority, the spokesman said.
"This is all the more true in the current crisis situation regarding Russian hybrid warfare," he added.
Schoenbohm was accused in the satire show on broadcaster ZDF of contacts with Russian secret services through an association he co-founded in 2012 known as the Cyber Security Council Germany.
One member of that association, Berlin cybersecurity company Protelion, reportedly operated under the name "Infotecs GmbH" until the end of March.
The report said this was a subsidiary of Russian cybersecurity company OAO Infotecs, founded by a former employee of the Russian KGB intelligence service.
According to other German media reports, Schoenbohm had maintained contact with the Cyber Security Council Germany until recently and the interior ministry had on August 24 approved a request for him to give a speech to the association.
The interior ministry spokesman on Tuesday said all allegations against Schoenbohm would be "thoroughly and emphatically examined and subjected to
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