The Kremlin has effectively proven its ability to hire low-level foreign proxies to carry out its dirty work across Europe. But Russian President Vladimir Putin still needs his homegrown spies on the continent.
Motivated by money, coercion or extortion, low-level criminals – and often Brits – working on the Kremlin’s orders have carried out sabotage attacks across the country, setting fires to depots and businesses supporting Ukraine’s fight against Russia.
A flurry of arrests by UK counter-terror police this year exposed Russia’s ability to mobilise members of the European public, often in nations opposed to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. But it’s clear the Russian President still relies on his trained spies across the continent.
On Wednesday, The i Paper revealed how Russia is smuggling suspected intelligence operatives into the UK on cargo ships. In the Spring and Summer, two suspected spies used such transport to enter Britain before visiting areas with military bases and critical infrastructure.
The clandestine movement of suspected Russian operatives into the country, while harrowing, offers an insight into the Kremlin’s ambition to get its skilled spies past less rigorous security checks at Europe’s borders.
During the Cold War, Soviet spy recruitment was primarily about recruiting assets inside the UK security services or other British institutions. Or, planting a country’s own operatives inside a target nation to gather useful intelligence. But in the era of Putin’s hybrid warfare, agent employment has changed tactics.
Tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions have hampered intelligence capabilities both in London and Moscow.
Since the launch of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the UK has expelled 24 Russian intelligence officials and sanctioned more than 2,900 individuals connected to the country. This, experts claim, has significantly hampered the Kremlin’s ability to skilfully draw secrets from its enemies.
A high-ranking Nato official has said that they have seen an increase in Russian spies monitoring and ‘testing’ Europe’s ports in an attempt to ‘find weaknesses’Labour MP Calvin Bailey, who sits on the influential Defence Select Committee and served in the Royal Air Force (RAF) for 24 years, said Putin’s spies have been forced to find “alternative routes” into the country to conduct clandestine operations.
“Since the introduction of stricter travel restrictions and diplomatic expulsions, it has become harder for Moscow to rely on traditional espionage methods,” he told The i Paper. “So they are seeking alternative routes through commercial shipping or by exploiting criminals and opportunists here in the UK.”
He added: “The Government has invested millions this year to monitor and counter Russian shipping activity and other forms of interference, and this is yet another reminder of the persistent threat posed by Russian aggression.”
Bailey represents the east London constituency of Leyton and Wanstead, where last year a British man named Dylan Earl was recruited by the Russian mercenary group – Wagner – along with five others to launch an arson attack on a warehouse providing aid to Ukraine.
He added that Russian attacks on the UK are becoming “increasingly common” and warned that Russia sees the UK as its “priority target”.
“We must remain vigilant and resolute in defending our national security,” he said.
Experts claim that sabotage attacks, such as the arson attack in Leyton, rely on “good intelligence” in order to be successful. Skilled cover spies are required to scope vulnerabilities, monitor key sites, and recruit useful actors to carry out orders.
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Dr Dan Lomas, a security and intelligence expert at Nottingham University, said hybrid warfare relies on the “covert collection of information”, and therefore skilled spies to lay the groundwork.
“There’s a lot of talk of hybrid activity and Russian covert influence, but the basis of all this relies on good intelligence. What are the weak points you need to target? What tensions in Western societies are able to be exploited? You need good intelligence for all this,” he said.
“Whilst Russia is able to exploit publicly available information, there’s always covert/secret information out there – hence spies.”
That may prove to be an explanation why the two suspected Russian operatives endured days-long journeys on cargo ships across the continent to reach British shores. Either way, the government is being forced to assess its borders and ensure life for Putin’s spies in Britain remains as hard as possible.
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