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The Germans are just eaten up with Russian spies >

As someone observing from outside Germany, it has been puzzling.
The 2019 "Der Spiegel" hitjob against Bill Browder is a case in point.  The motivation for Browder and his accomplishments around the Magnitsky act are solid.  But Der Spiegel wrote a major "expose" around the fact that the man who Browder called his "lawyer" wasn't fully accredited as an attorney.  I mean who the hell cares if Magnistky only had limited legal powers to represent his clients, it might not be technically correct to call him a lawyer but from a narrative and practical point of view it is correct.  And Germans defend Der Spiegel because there was a story to be told, and Der Spiegel told it.
Meanwhile all along Germany was eaten up by Russian spies, which many Germans are only now beginning to appreciate.  Don't get me started on ex-chancellor Gerhard Schröder.
What am I missing?