Russian spies in the Russo-Ukrainian War

In the context of the Russo-Ukrainian War, in the time leading up to and after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, a number of citizens of the Russian Federation and of other nationalities working for Russia have been identified publicly as spies or agents of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the Russia's foreign intelligence service (SVR) or the third intelligence arm, the military intelligence service (GRU). Each arm having their own remits.[1][2]

Termed “illegals”, operatives without diplomatic accreditation, agents often spend years building up false identities, living a quiet life, though sometimes they then move location/country with their partner, who may or may not know of their espionage activities and any children, who will not know of any nefarious activities. They can be hard to identify, resembling normal people.[2]

The threat of spies has been increasing in Europe, most of which are Russian.[3] “Counterintelligence efforts to look for illegals had intensified recently”.“The breadth of Moscow’s spying operations made it a unique threat”, said Janez Stušek, director of Slovenia's Sova intelligence agency until June 2022.[4]

Effectiveness of Russian spies

Whilst it is clear that the opinion of Russian operatives regarding the willingness of Ukraine to enter into, and the preparedness of Ukraine for war, was a catastrophic failure, with the Russian military in February 2022 expecting to be welcomed with open arms, this is in part due to the fact that Russia's covert attempts to destabilise Ukraine in the second half of 2021 and early 2022 were a failure.[5] There was also a Russian intelligence failure to comprehend the West's willingness to support Ukraine in the long term. In diplomatic circles we see failures, mainly due to the mass expulsion of diplomats. There have however been some successes, in cyber warfare, in the media and on the ground in occupied areas of Ukraine.[6] It is much harder to determine effectiveness of spies on the ground in other countries.

Legals
See also: Diplomatic expulsions during the Russo-Ukrainian War

In addition to ‘’illegals’’, over 600 Russian diplomats have been identified and been declared ‘’persona non grata’’ in 2022 and 2023 and had their accreditation cancelled, with a number being described as ‘’intelligence officers masquerading as diplomats’’ or "national security" concerns.[7] These expulsions of diplomats normally came at a cost, with retaliation by Russia against diplomats based at embassy's in Russia.

The head of Britain’s MI6 foreign intelligence service, Richard Moore, reported that roughly half of Russia’s spies working under diplomatic cover were expelled from Europe by July 2022.[8]

Illegals

Deep-cover spies, or ‘’illegals’’, a term for intelligence agents operating without diplomatic cover, have been uncovered in a number of countries. Resembling normal people, many have been uncovered through a combination of their recent activities and heightened awareness by the authorities.[2]

Albania NATO

In August 2022, three people, two Russians and one Albania openly climbed over a wall of a weapons factory, were spotted by guards, whom they attacked with a chemical spray, before being arrested. One supposedly admitted to being a Russian spy, the factory is currently used to repair weapons. The three are being held in detention. One, a woman, has asked for asylum, claiming she will be persecuted if returned to Russia.[9] [10]

Australia

In February 2023 a large spy ring whose members included those posing as diplomats, as well a deep-cover identity operatives was uncovered. Operating for 18 months it was broken by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). The people involved have had visas not renewed, or cancelled, forcing them to leave the country, rather than being expelled, to avoid retaliation against Australian diplomats.[11]

Belgium NATO
  • Belgium is the HQ of NATO. In October 2021 NATO expelled eight undeclared Russian intelligence officers from their NATO mission, reducing the mission to just 10 Russians.[12] In retaliation, Sergey Lavrov said all staff at NATO’s military mission in Moscow would be stripped of their accreditation. [13] Both missions have now closed.
  • In March 2022, 21 Russian diplomats were expelled by Belgium. Masquerading as technicians, cleaners, attachés, and trade representatives, all were identified as members of GRU, SVR or FSB. They included Alexei Kuksov the embassy ambassador.[14] Staff levels at the embassy have now fallen below 200.

Bulgaria NATO
  • In July 2022 an explosion occurred at a weapons store in Bulgaria, the latest in a sequence of eight explosions going back to 2011. Owned by weapons dealer Emilian Gebrev, who in 2015 survived a Novichok poison attack, the substance having been put on his car door handle, which in 2020 resulted in the charging of three Russian nationals in absentia in connection with the attempted assassination. One of the accused, Denis Sergeyev, is also linked to the 2018 Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal. Six suspected Russian GRU agents are under currently under investigation.[15] [16]
  • In March 2023, Nikolai Malinov, a former Bulgarian lawmaker charged with spying and sanctioned by the USA for funding spy organisations, travelled to Moscow where he has been elected head of the International Movement of Russophiles, an organisation run under Russia's foreign ministry. Malinov, who is currently under investigation and banned from travelling, is standing for election in the April 2023 elections.[17]

Estonia NATO

On 6 December 2022 Vadim Konoshchenok, a suspected (FSB) officer was arrested at the border with high tech electronic items and ammunition sourced in the USA, additional goods were found in a warehouse Konoshchenok was renting. The USA is seeking his extradition.[18] (see also USA)

France NATO

In Summer 2022 a woman called Yulia Shivmanovitch applied for a visa to visit France, it was refused as she is the wife of Alexander Kulagin, identified by French secret services as a spy from Unit 29155 of GRU, who was sent in 2016 to Montenegro to mount a coup d’état and was also involved in the Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal.[19]

Germany NATO
  • Arrested in 2020, in August 2022 a German reserve Lieutenant Colonel, Ralph G, was charged with sharing information with Russian intelligence from 2014 to 2020 relating to military equipment and personal data on senior officers. After his arrest in 2020, Ralph G admitted to having supplied information to Russian men, but claims not to have known his contacts were working for the GRU. Unpaid, he received "invitations to events organised by the Russian government agencies." [20]
  • On 17 October 2022 Yury Orekhov was arrested in Germany under an international arrest warrant. The USA charged him and others arrested in Italy, with unlawfully obtaining U.S. military technology, from at least 2018 and want him extradited.[21] [22](see also Italy and USA)
  • In December 2022, a German national, Carsten L, thought to be linked to a German foreign intelligence service (BND) was detained. In January another German national, Arthur E, was detained when arriving at Munich airport from the US, it is believed he passed information from his acquaintance Carsten L to Russian intelligence. This makes Carsten L a double agent.[23]

Greece NATO

In January 2023, just after arrests in Slovenia, a woman believed to be Irena, an SVR agent, operating under the name Maria Tsalla since 1991, the name taken from a dead infant, fled Athens, where she had been running a knitting supply shop and photo blog. She sent a message handing her business to her employees and now appears to now be in Kyrgyzstan. It is believed she fled because of links to the arrested couple in Slovakia. (see also Slovenia) [4] Her real husband, who called himself "Gerhard Daniel Campos Wittich" and allegedly having dual citizenship of Brazil and Austria is also believed to be a spy who has been operating in Brazil running a 3D printing company, until he also vanished in January. Operating apart, they have met up in Brazil and Cyprus and both had acquired partners in their respective countries. [24][25]

Hungary NATO

Hungary did not expel any diplomats in April 2022, instead they allowed the Russian embassy to increase their numbers from 46 to 56. In November 2022 a former employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, was intercepted at the Hungarian border, on his way to give a UBS drive to the Russian Embassy in Budapest, considered a safe route to provide information to Russia. The UBS contained information including personal data about employees of SBU and GUR intelligence services in Ukraine.[26]

Italy NATO
  • In March 2023 a Naval Officer was found guilty of handing information to Russian embassy staff in a car park Rome in 2021. The officer, in financial difficulties, wanted €5,000 for handing over 19 confidential NATO documents, including those marked "Top Secret." The diplomats were expelled. The Frigate Captain received a jail term of 30 years.[27]
  • In May 2022 the 140m yacht Scheherazade was raided in the Marina di Carrara shipyard in Tuscany. The crew were all later identified as GRU agents known to the Italian secret service. The yacht was seized but the crew had vanished.[28]
  • On 17 October 2022 Artyom Uss, a Russian accused of smuggling US technology to Russia, was one of five Russians arrested on international arrest warrants, one in Germany.[21] Russia subsequently ordered Uss arrested for money laundering as part of a criminal gang and wanted him extradited to Moscow. Given house arrest in November, the extradition was approved in court on 21 March, and an appeal failed, days later, his wife had flown to Moscow 10 days before Uss cut off his electronic tag, fled in a waiting car and then using a false passport flew out of the country on a private plane. He is now in Moscow.[29] [30] (see also Germany and USA)

Moldova
  • Moldova has an added problem on its doorstep, a regional HQ of the FSB in Transnistria, where in April 2022 several small explosions took place, probably provocations by the FSB. Transnistria blamed Ukraine special forces.[31]
  • In May 2022 Igor Dodon, former President of Moldova, was detained and accused of corruption and treason. It was discovered that Dodon used to send drafts of his speeches to high ranking Russian security officials and an FSB General, Dmitry Milyutin, flew to Moldova to attend Dodon's inauguration in 2016. In 2019 Russian political strategists flew in to "help" with the mayoral elections, then with the presidential in 2020 and parliament and local in 2021.[31] Released documents purport to show election involvement and contribution by the General Staff of the Russian Army and the intelligence services, the FSB, SVR and GRU.[32] Dodon, who had lost the presidential election in 2020, was released from house arrest in November 2022 but remains under investigation, including that of having allegedly received USD1m in 2019 from US sanctioned Moldovan politician and oligarch, Vladimir Plahotniuc, whose whereabouts are currently unknown, and of high treason. [33]
  • In March 2023 police arrested members of a network "orchestrated by Moscow" in a bid to destabilize the country through demonstrations after an agent managed to infiltrate the group which was being trained by people travelling from Russia.[34]

Montenegro NATO

In September 2022 an investigation linked six Russian diplomats with twenty eight Russian citizens holding temporary visas for Montenegro and two local citizens in a spy investigation. The diplomats were expelled.[35] The Russian citizens were later banned from Montenegro and the two locals, one an ex-diplomat, face charges of illegal weapons, organising a criminal organisation and espionage.[36]

Netherlands NATO

Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov a Russian citizen using a false Brazilian identity “Victor Muller Ferreira” tried to infiltrate the International Criminal Court (ICC) through an internship. Picked up at Schipol airport after a tip off, he was declared an unwanted Alien by the Netherlands and deported back to Brazil. He is in prison in Brazil having been sentenced to 15 years for identity fraud. (see also USA) [37][38]

Norway NATO

In October 2022 a man known as José Assis Giammaria was arrested in Norway. Posing as a Brazilian, he was an intern at UiT The Arctic University of Norway and involved with the Center for Peace Studies. Identified as Russian national Mikhail Valerievich Mikushin, believed to be a Colonel in the GRU, the suspect has been charged with gathering intelligence linked to state secrets.[39]

Poland NATO
  • March 2022 a Polish employee of the Warsaw Registry Office was arrested on suspicion of transferring operationally valuable data to the Russian intelligence services.[40]
  • March 2022 A freelance journalist, a Spanish national of Russian origin, who was identified as an agent for Russia's GRU was arrested in Przemysl, south-eastern Poland, by the ABW on suspicion of spying for Moscow.[40]
  • April 2022 a man was arrested. Prosecutors have since charged a Russian citizen, who is a long-term resident in Poland, with spying for Russia between 2015 and 2022. The man, who ran a business in Poland, was allegedly involved with historical reconstruction groups, making contacts with Polish military personnel.[40]
  • March 2023 six citizens, "foreigners from across the eastern border", charged with preparing acts of sabotage and spying for Russia. "Evidence indicates that this group monitored railway lines. Their tasks included recognising, monitoring and documenting weapons' transports to Ukraine." Some cameras were found near the small regional Rzeszow-Jasionka airport to record activity.[40] In March 2023, three more were arrested. The nine were believed to be preparing to undertake sabotage, three were from Belarus.[41] [42]

Slovakia NATO

In March 2022 two Slovak citizens were charged with spying and bribery, accused of obtaining highly sensitive, strategic and classified information about Slovakia, its armed forces and NATO and handed them over to Russian Embassy based undercover GRU officers in return for money. One was the head of a Security and Defense Department at the Armed Forces Academy and had GRU contact going back 10 years. The other worked for a pro-Russian conspiracy website known as Hlavne spravy. Both have confessed and the diplomats in Russia's embassy have been declared persona non grata.[43]

Slovenia NATO

In December 2022 two foreign nationals were arrested, now believed to be Russian citizens working for Russia's foreign intelligence service (SVR), under the false names of Maria Rosa Mayer Munos and Ludwig Gisch, they had used forged Argentinian passports to settle in Ljubljana with their children in 2017. A large amount of cash was seized. They are charged with espionage. (see also Greece) [44][4]

Sweden
  • In late 2021 Peyman Kia and Payam Kia, brothers, born in Iran, were arrested for spying. Peyman Kia reportedly served in the Office for Special Acquisition (KSI) part of Sweden's security service and the two of them were working for Russia over a ten-year period. Both were sentenced to long terms in jail in January 2023.[45][46]
  • In November 2022, a couple living in Nacka, Sweden for over 20 years were arrested in a dawn raid using Black Hawk helicopters. Sergey Skvortsov and Elena Koulkova are believed to be Russian citizens, suspected of aggravated illegal intelligence activities including the illegal acquisition of technology for the Russian military industry, on behalf of GRU.. Mr. Skvortsov reportedly studied at the Moscow Power Engineering Institute, while Ms. Koulkova, born in 1964, is said to have graduated from the Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics at Moscow State University. They owned a flat in 36 Zorge Street, Moscow, well known as a place GRU agents live, including Denis Sergeev who is linked to the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal and General Andrei Vladimirovich Averyanov head of Unit 29155 of GRU.[47]

Ukraine

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has been actively at war with the Russian secret services since the 2014 Invasion of Ukraine. Hampered with a number of ex-KGB operatives left over from the USSR era, occupying positions of power in Ukraine, with the addition of more recent recruits, it has taken time to identify the subversives, such as the network led by Andrii Derkach, and Andrii Naumov who was in a senior position in the SBU, who fled Ukraine hours before the invasion. By July 2022 651 prosecutions had been opened against prosecutorial and law enforcement officials in Ukraine,[48] with over 16,000 cases of treason being opened by Ukraine prosecutors by February 2023.[49]

United Kingdom NATO

Arrested in 2021, in February 2023 David Ballantyne Smith, a Scottish citizen, pleaded guilty under the Official Secrets Act to spying for Russia and has been jailed for 13 years. Working as a security guard at the British embassy in Berlin he used the opportunity to take photos and leak documents and video footage to cause embarrassment and was paid small sums for his efforts. He was caught using a British Agent posing as a Russian defector and was found with documents in his home.[50][4]

United States of America NATO
  • In July 2022 A Russian foreign agent has been indicted by a Federal grand jury in Tampa, USA. Charged with running a campaign to influence political groups such as the Uhuru Movement and turn US citizens into tools of Russia, through funding and sowing discord over a seven-year period Aleksandr Lanov an FSB agent.[51]
  • In July 2022 Walter Primrose and his wife Gwynn Morrison were arrested after it was discovered that in 1987 they had assumed the identities of babies that had died, Bobby Fort and Julie Montague. Primrose had worked for a defense contractor before vanishing and adopting new names, remarried in 1988. In 1994 Bobby Fort joined the Coast Guard before returning as a defense contractor. Photos were found of them in KGB uniforms along with invisible ink kits, code books and maps of military bases.[52]
  • In October 2022 arrests were made in Germany and Italy of Russians wanted for unlawfully obtaining U.S. military technology and Venezuelan oil sanction breaking.[21] In March 2023 one of the Russians, Artyom Uss, broke house arrest and fled Italy in a private plane just before he was extradited.[29] (see also Italy and Germany)
  • December 2022 saw the arrest by the FBI of two US citizens and five Russian nationals, one of which is a suspected FSB Officer. Charged with helping Russian Intelligence Agencies evade sanctions and money laundering by seeking to buy advanced electronics and specialist sniper ammunition using dozens of shell companies and corresponding bank accounts throughout the U.S. Konoshchenok, the suspected FSB officer, self-identified as a Colonel, was arrested in Estonia on December 6, 2022.[18] (see also Estonia)
  • In February 2023 a former FBI officer, Charles F. McGonigal, was arrested and charged with secretly taking 225,000 dollars from a former Albanian spy who is now a US citizen, and violating U.S. sanctions by secretly working for a Kremlin-linked Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, he once investigated.[53]
  • March 2023, Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov, who allegedly served as an agent for the GRU Russian intelligence service under the Brazilian alias of Victor Muller Ferreira from 2012. He entered the US in 2018 to attend a graduate school in Washington. He is charged with various offenses including acting as a foreign agent, wire fraud, bank fraud and visa fraud. He was deported by the Netherlands to Brazil, after trying to obtain a job with the International Criminal Court (ICC) and is currently there in jail for 15 years on identity theft and fraud charges. Covert communications equipment has been recovered from remote locations in Brazil that Cherkasov had allegedly hidden. Russia has admitted he is a Russian citizen from Kaliningrad and is trying to get him extradited on narcotics charges, believed to be false.[37][54] (see also Netherlands)

Cross border assistance

The number of cases of cross border identification and arrest shows a close working relationship between different counter espionage and security forces, especially in NATO countries. MI5 confirmed that data about Russian agents is shared between European allies.[55]

See also

References
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