Recently, the Polish counterintelligence exposed the RF’s spy network, which was preparing sabotage on the railway in Poland. Among the citizens who worked for the Russian special services, there were no Russians, but there were citizens of Belarus who left their country under the pretext of persecution by the Lukashenko authorities. They were preparing to carry out terrorist attacks along the route of military equipment for Ukraine, intended to repel Russian aggression.
Russian money seduced the attackers. They were instructed to collect information about the routes and transportation of military equipment provided to Ukraine. A total of 12 people have already been arrested in this case. All of them were recruited by the Russian special services even before they arrived in Poland.
It’s not an isolated case. Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian agents have also been detained in the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Germany, Poland, and Slovenia. In October 2022, an employee of the University of Tromsø-Arctic University of Norway was arrested, posing as a Brazilian citizen. The “researcher” actually turned out to be an officer of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces Mikhail Mikushin. And at the end of December, Carsten Linke, an employee of the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND), was arrested in Germany on suspicion of spying for the Russian Federation. He passed secret information to Moscow, which was given to the BND from the intelligence services of other NATO countries, in particular, the CIA.
In 2022 alone, more than 400 Russian intelligence officers suspected of espionage from Russian embassies in different countries were deported to Russia. Despite this, Russian spy networks still continue to operate in European countries.
One of the priorities of Russian spies remains to prevent EU countries from supporting Ukraine. At the same time, Russia uses any levers to achieve this goal. As a consequence, Russian spy networks in Europe must be identified and eliminated. It is necessary to strengthen control over Russian representative offices abroad, as well as Russian citizens entering Europe for permanent residence, as well as on business and personal issues. The presence of Russian spies is a common threat to the entire West, and their activities must be stopped.