Intelligence activities by Russian intelligence and security services, which have become increasingly aggressive recently, remain the main intelligence threat to Estonia, according to an annual report published by the Estonian Security Police (KaPo) on Friday.
The response to the security threat posed by Russia in Europe has been wide-ranging, with pressure measures such as suspending visas mainly for Russian citizens and closing border crossings in countries bordering Russia, which have changed the way Russian intelligence and security services operate. This applies not only to their actions regarding Ukraine, but also to other European countries, according to KaPo.
“Russia’s intelligence and security services have become significantly more aggressive than in the past. In some respects they operate more forcefully and in others they operate more covertly,” the report said, adding that Russian intelligence services are capable of adapting, and war certainly gives it the best opportunity to do so.
“Before the war, the Russian intelligence services in Europe had failures and perhaps not the best reputation, but the confrontation with Ukraine has given the intelligence services a new direction and purpose – they are dangerous,” the report of the Estonian internal intelligence service emphasized.
If at the political level the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, better known by its former name the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and their leaders can fight for power, then at the operational level they are united . Therefore, the Russian intelligence services are an even greater challenge for Western countries and their citizens. In summary, it can be concluded that the interest of Russian intelligence and security services in Estonia and other European countries is even greater than before, according to KaPO.
Historically, Russian intelligence and security services have preferred to operate under so-called diplomatic cover, with intelligence officers stationed as diplomats in Russian diplomatic missions around the world. Although some 700 Russian diplomats who were also intelligence officers have been expelled from Europe and elsewhere since the renewed invasion of Ukraine began, Russia has managed to replace a significant number of them with new intelligence officers, the report said.
According to KaPo, there is considerable diplomatic pressure on foreign ministries to allow undeclared spies into their country, and in many cases these efforts have been successful. Without the cooperation of Western foreign ministries and security agencies to counter these activities, the Russian intelligence services would have restored their pre-war number of spies in embassies within a couple of years.
In addition to sending intelligence officers back to Russia and withdrawing accreditation, most European countries, as well as those in more remote regions, have ordered reductions in the number of staff in Russian embassies, and in several countries, such as Estonia, these reductions were made on a parity basis, so that both sides have equal diplomatic resources. number of representatives. This, in turn, limits the possibilities of intelligence gathering under diplomatic cover, as well as hinders the propaganda and influence activities of Russian embassies, which, along with intelligence activities, pose the greatest security threat to countries, the Estonian intelligence service said.
The Russian Embassy in Tallinn is no exception. Since its opening, the embassy has been used for intelligence activities as well as influence and propaganda activities. To prevent this, since the embassy was restored in 1991, 18 diplomats of the Russian embassy have been declared undesirable persons, according to KaPo
“Since intelligence activities from the Russian embassy have been significantly hampered over the past year and Estonia has decided to almost completely stop issuing visas to Russian citizens, Russian intelligence and security services have more actively used other methods that are more easily available to them – intelligence and recruitment activities from Russian territory and through social media,” according to KaPo.
2024-04-12 15:50:20
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