However, this might prove difficult. “Russia treats dual nationals exclusively as Russian nationals and therefore generally refuses consular access on the grounds of Russian nationality,” the ministry added.
The arrest follows the detention of another German national last month in Russia, also on charges of sabotage. The FSB alleged he was working for Ukraine and detained him in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
“The risk of arrests in Russia is very high — even for German nationals. We have been warning about this for some time in our travel and security advice,” the German foreign ministry said in its statement.
A large-scale prisoner swap in August, one of the most complex since the Cold War, saw Moscow release 16 Americans, Germans and Russian dissidents in exchange for eight Russians, including a convicted murderer, imprisoned in five different countries.
This led human rights organizations and opposition politicians in Germany to warn that such a swap could provide extra leverage to the Russian regime to detain innocent people in future.
Eva Hartog contributed to this report.
