German prosecutors have charged a Russian national with plotting an attack in Germany.

Federal prosecutors said on March 5 that the 31-year-old, identified only as Magomed-Ali C., had been charged by a Berlin court last month with preparing an act of violence and preparing an explosion.

He is accused of storing the explosive TATP at his Berlin apartment in October 2016.

The Russian national, who according to the German news site Zeit Online comes from the Russian republic of Daghestan, was arrested in August 2018 and formally charged on February 25.

Prosecutors said the suspect had planned the attack in Germany with Clement Baur, a French national who was arrested in the city of Marseille in a separate case in 2017.

Prosecutors said that the pair were in contact with Anis Amri, the Tunisian who attacked a Christmas market in Berlin in December 2016, but were not aware of his plans.

Amri fled the scene and was later shot dead by police in Italy.

The Islamic State (IS) extremist group claimed responsibility for the attack in which 12 people were killed.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP