David Ballantyne Smith, 57 , a British national who was living in Potsdam, Germany, is charged with nine offences under the Official Secrets Act 1911.

He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, 7 April.

The alleged offences were committed between October 2020 and August 2021.

Smith, who was employed as a security guard at the British Embassy in Berlin, was extradited back to the UK from Germany on Wednesday, 6 April following his arrest by German police on 10 August 2021.

The nine charges relate to the collection and communication of information useful to the Russian state.