NOS News•
Russia has tried to map out the Dutch energy supply. The country wants to know where it can sabotage, says the director of the military intelligence service MIVD Jan Swillens.
A Russian ship in the North Sea tried to collect data on wind farms a few months ago. “That was recognized in time and dealt with adequately,” says Swillens. The ship has been diverted. “This makes it clear that the threat to the Netherlands is much less advanced than it initially seems.” In addition to wind farms, Russia would also be interested in mapping internet cables and gas pipelines.
Swillens spoke about the incident at a joint press conference with the AIVD. According to the services, there are “preparatory acts for disturbance and sabotage”. The services have been warning for some time that it is also possible to secretly attack other essential facilities, such as those for drinking water.
Diplomats expelled
This weekend, Russian diplomats were again expelled from the country. The Netherlands took that step because Russia will not stop placing intelligence officers as diplomats.
It was previously thought that ten Russian embassy employees would have to leave. Swillens now says that it concerns seventeen people. “We also no longer admit new people who we already know are intelligence officers.”
Nieuwsuur made this video about what the evicted spies did here:
This is how we found out the identities of 17 Russian spies
