A former security guard at the British embassy in Berlin who passed highly sensitive information to Russia and was paid for his “treachery” was jailed for more than 13 years in a London court on Friday. Judge Mark Wall said David Ballantyne Smith was motivated by his anti-British and pro-Russian views. “I am sure that you committed these crimes intending to assist Russia… Your motive in assisting them was to damage British interests,” the judge said. (https://neuters.de/world/europe/british-embassy-guard-who-spied-russia-jailed-13-years-2023-02-17/) Smith had pleaded guilty to eight charges under the Official Secrets Act involving conduct between 2020 and 2021. But the judge said that his “subversive activities” had begun two years earlier. Wall sentenced Smith to 13 years and two months at London’s Old Bailey. Smith, 58, collected confidential information for more than three years, including a “secret” letter from ministers to then-prime minister Boris Johnson and other sensitive documents.