Germany was a soft target for Russian spies. That's changing fast.

A widening investigation into alleged Russian spying inside Germany’s state intelligence service, the BND, has set off alarm bells in Western capitals and prompted calls for a major overhaul of the agency to shore up its defenses against Russian espionage.

Coming at a crucial moment in the war in Ukraine when the United States and its allies are sharing intelligence with Kyiv, the case has raised questions about how much potential damage may have been inflicted by a senior employee of the German spy service who allegedly passed secrets to Russia.

A vital partner in the Western effort to counter the Kremlin in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine, Germany has long proven a soft target for Russian spies, who allegedly orchestrated the 2019 murder of one of Moscow's opponents in the heart of Berlin.