Two officials in the German Economy Ministry are suspected of spying for Russia 

Germany's Die Zeit newspaper reported the story. 

Ministry staff turned to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany’s domestic intelligence service, for assistance when they stumbled across some inconsistencies.

"They encountered inconsistencies in internal documents on Nord Stream-2 and the level of gas storage capacity, as well as in a report on the security of gas supplies in Germany. Many documents shared the Russian point of view, and the arguments often did not coincide with the official government line", the news report in Die Zeit says. 

During winter discussions on gas supplies, the two officials took a position that deviated from the political line set out by Minister for Climate and the Economy Robert Habeck (who is also deputy Chancellor): the clear decision not to bring the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline into operation.

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), is responsible for initiating an investigation if there are any security concerns.

Intelligence officers reviewed the suspects' resumes and found anomalies, such as a study trip to Russia in one case. They also scrutinized the trips to see if they were purely business trips or if they might have had suspicious purposes.

One of the arguments against them working for Russia is that the German Economy Ministry has traditionally included civil servants who in the past were friendly to both Russian corporations and the Kremlin. In particular, Habeck's predecessor Peter Altmaier, like his state secretary Ulrich Nußbaum, considered Nord Stream-2 to be a project of 'sovereign national energy supply'. Accordingly, many high-ranking officials were oriented to the East, in particular in the area responsible for gas and energy issues.