German politician exposed Russian spy at Zelensky and Merz meeting in Berlin

Photo: Florian Gaertner/Photothek via Getty Images

Roderich Kiesewetter, a politician from the Christian Democratic Union, stated that he knew this woman and had previously seen her at the Russian embassy, where she introduced herself as an entrepreneur, and later as a Ukrainian.

Ilona V. had also previously appeared at political and business events and was even in close proximity to Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during the German-Ukrainian Economic Forum in December 2025.

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Photo: Bild

Photographs from the forum in Berlin show her sitting behind Merz and Zelensky. The question arises: how could Ilona V., supposedly an entrepreneur of German-Ukrainian origin, get so close to the Chancellor?

A possible answer was provided by Roderich Kiesewetter, a security politician from the Christian Democratic Union and a Bundeswehr colonel, in his new book Was wollen wir? Was können wir? ('What do we want? What can we do?'). His description also indicates that the woman had likely been under surveillance by security services for a long time.

According to him, Ilona V. had repeatedly drawn his attention over the past ten years.

Bild publishes excerpts from Kiesewetter's book:

«In 2015, I was appointed foreign policy spokesperson for my parliamentary group and rapporteur on Russia, so I regularly visited the Russian embassy. There, from time to time, a Russian woman who introduced herself as an entrepreneur and consultant would approach me.

Once I saw her talking to a GRU representative.

I had met this representative elsewhere, including at events of the Adenauer Foundation.

Once we even participated together in a discussion panel. Years later, in the second year of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, during a discussion at an event in Berlin, the same Russian woman spoke and introduced herself as a Ukrainian.

She stated that she was tired of her country being pumped with weapons, and that Germany, with its support, was only prolonging suffering in Ukraine. According to her, the people there want peace, and it can be achieved if Ukrainians stop receiving weapons.

To her surprise, I said I was glad to see her again. I reminded her that we knew each other from the Russian embassy, whereas I had never seen her at the Ukrainian embassy. After the event, she approached me to complain. Already at the beginning of the conversation, she realized she had made a mistake. Evidently, only then did she remember our two or three previous meetings.

When I asked her why she was then speaking as a Ukrainian, she replied that she was a citizen of the Soviet Union. After that, I had no more questions, and she left very quickly. By the way, such people receive money for similar speeches. Whether this was the case for her — I cannot prove.»

After her arrest, it became known that by the time she penetrated the second row behind Zelensky and Merz in December, she had already been under surveillance by German counterintelligence for several months. This was likely also aided by Kiesewetter's public exposure.

Notably, she had close ties to a network that Moscow had been building for decades. Additionally, she participated in the German-Ukrainian defense congress and cooperated with an institute from Wismar, which was considered a Russian influence structure in the Nord Stream gas pipeline construction project.

The Public Prosecutor General accuses Ilona V. of spying in Germany on behalf of the GRU. Her handler was a military attaché from the Russian embassy. The German government has already expelled this officer, and Ilona V. herself is currently in custody.

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