German prosecutors arrested and charged a Russian citizen with spying for Russia, alleging he had passed the information on aerospace technology, in particular the Ariane space launch vehicle, to Russian intelligence, the German Federal Public Prosecutor's Office said in a statement on Thursday.

The suspect, named only as Ilnur N., worked as a research assistant for a scientific and technical chair at a university in Bavaria until arrested on June 18 last year, according to the statement.

"The Russian foreign intelligence service SWR contacted the accused by autumn 2019 at the latest, as a result of which the accused agreed to cooperate with the intelligence service, " the statement mentioned.