German authorities say they have received a request from the UK to approve the extradition of a suspected Russian spy who worked at the British Embassy in Berlin.

Brandenburg state prosecutor Marc Boehme confirmed a report by Der Spiegel that Britain asked for the extradition of David S, a British citizen who was arrested at his home south west of Berlin in August.

Federal prosecutors accuse the suspect, whose full name was not released for privacy reasons, of having spied for the Russian intelligence service at least since November 2020.

Before his arrest he worked at the British Embassy in the German capital and allegedly passed on documents he received at work to the Russians.

Mr Boehme was unable to say how long it might take to consider the extradition request.