Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, harsh sanctions, growing awareness among North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member states of Russian intelligence tactics, and enhanced counterintelligence operations have made the Kremlin’s traditional information-gathering methods nearly impossible.
Following widespread expulsions of Russian diplomats from NATO countries in 2022, Russian intelligence agencies shifted from traditional espionage featuring trained agents under diplomatic cover to more diffuse recruitment of vulnerable groups
The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (GRU) are preying on socially, economically, and legally marginalized groups, including Ukrainian refugees and Russian migrants, for intelligence gathering and sabotage.
These recruits are often unaware they are part of Russian operations and receive no support from the Kremlin when arrested.
Russian intelligence operations in countries such as Poland and Czechia focus less on traditional intelligence collection and more on generating panic, undermining social cohesion, and weakening NATO’s support for Ukraine by exploiting local fears and divisions.
The Czech Security Information Service’s annual report for 2024, released on July 10, documented intel about Russia’s Federal Security Service’s (FSB) operations in the country. The report found that the FSB was recruiting migrants from outside of the European Union via Telegram to engage in criminal activities with the intent of weakening public cohesion,
undermining trust in the government, and reducing support for Ukraine (Seznam Zprávy, June 9; Czech Security Information Service, July 10). Similarly, in May 2024, Polish counterintelligence arrested several individuals suspected of spying for the FSB (TVN24, May 20, 2024). Among those detained were refugees from Ukraine and Belarus who had arrived in Poland after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. According to Polish authorities,
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