Switzerland overrun with foreign spies, Swiss intelligence service warns

June 28, 2023 1 Comment

Russian embassy SwitzerlandINTENSIFYING COMPETITION BETWEEN THE superpowers has turned Switzerland into an espionage battlefield, with more foreign spies being active there than in most other European countries, according to a new report. The report, published earlier this week by the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service (FIS), notes that Russian operatives are particularly active in the alpine country. Many Russian intelligence officers have relocated there after being expelled by a host of European countries in the past 18 months, according to the report.

Traditionally neutral Switzerland has not joined most other European countries in expelling Russian intelligence officers —posing as diplomats— following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Therefore, as Russia tries to rebuild its shattered intelligence-gathering networks in Europe, it is using Switzerland as a forward-operating base, according to the FIS. As of 2023, the number of Russian intelligence personnel stationed on Swiss soil, and the ensuing espionage activity, “is notably high”, states the report.

According to the FIS report, that the lion’s share of Russian intelligence officers —“several dozen”— are stationed “at the Russian diplomatic and consular missions in Geneva”. A major international diplomatic hub, Geneva is an “ideal operational environment” for foreign intelligence agencies. It hosts a significant number of international organizations —including one of the four major offices of the United Nations. Additionally, it is situated close to the largely unmonitored French border. This allows intelligence operatives to move seamlessly in and out of European Union soil.

Furthermore, as Western intelligence agencies increase their presence in Switzerland, in order to counter Russian intelligence activities there, “espionage levels […] are continuously rising”, according to the FIS report. This situation is unlikely to change in the coming year, as “intensifying competition between superpowers” is expected to continue to involve Switzerland as an espionage battlefield that draws in rival intelligence agencies, the FIS report concludes.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 28 June 2023 | Permalink

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Analysis: Prigozhin’s goal was to survive, not to remove Putin from power

June 26, 2023 8 Comments

Yevgeny PrigozhinIN THE EARLY HOURS of June 23, PMC Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin declared the launch of an armed campaign against the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. Within hours, several thousand soldiers belonging to Wagner, one of the world’s largest private military companies, had abandoned their positions in eastern Ukraine and were en route to Moscow. Their mission, according to Prigozhin, was to arrest Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, and try them for mismanagement and corruption.

In the ensuing hours, National Guard units along the M-4, a 1,100-mile-long expressway that connects the northeastern shores of the Black Sea to Moscow, began blocking or destroying critical junctures across that vast road network, in an attempt to obstruct the Wagner convoy. In a televised nationwide address, a visibly shaken Vladimir Putin accused Prigozhin of leading an armed insurrection, and warned those who followed him that they would be treated as traitors. Meanwhile, tickets on flights from Moscow to several visa-free international destinations were sold out within hours, as Muscovites braced for the outbreak of civil war.

Yet, within fewer than 24 hours, Prigozhin, who had repeatedly vowed to reach Moscow or die trying, was on his way to Belarus. He had seemingly accepted a deal to abandon his loyal troops in exchange for amnesty and a life in exile. Prigozhin’s sudden about-face surprised many observers, who had expected to see firefights between Spetsnaz units and Wagner forces in Moscow’s southern districts by Sunday afternoon. Even some of Prigozhin’s own troops took to social media to openly accuse their former leader of betrayal, and vow revenge.

PRIGOZHIN: A RATIONAL AND CALCULATED ACTOR

How are we to explain this unexpected turn of events? The difficulty of such a task is amplified by the lack of reliable reporting from Russia, along with the inherent chaos of war and the rapidly changing nature of events. It must be stressed, however, that Prigozhin is neither impulsive nor irrational. His maneuvers over the past week were calculated and almost certainly pre-planned and choreographed —most likely long in advance. His ultimate decision to seek political asylum in Belarus —one of the few countries in the world that is unlikely to turn him over to the United States— makes sense under one premise: that the motive behind his “justice march” to Moscow was not to challenge Putin, but to save his life.

To begin with, the bitter feud between Prigozhin and the Russian Ministry of Defense is not new. It has been raging for years. It both precedes and exceeds Russia’s ongoing military campaign in Ukraine. The Wagner leader has repeatedly expressed his dismay at being viewed as an outsider by the Ministry of Defense, which it views as an elitist and incompetent bureaucracy. His experience in Ukraine, where Wagner’s forces faced stiff resistance from the local population and the Ukrainian military alike, added fuel to his rage against a host of Russian defense officials. Prigozhin has been voicing his denunciations of the way these officials have managed the war since March of 2022, just two weeks into the invasion of Ukraine.

PRIGOZHIN’S DISILLUSIONMENT

The disastrous Russian military campaign in Ukraine only served to sharpen Prigozhin’s criticism of his country’s defense establishment. One can observe this in the evolution of his critiques over time. In recent months, the Wagner leader has not only criticized the Ministry of Defense, accusing his leadership of corruption, but he has increasingly directed his ire against broad segments of Russian society. In his video tirades, he often decries what he describes as “the Russian elite” and the “oligarchy”, whom it accuses of living in luxury, while Russia’s working class fights and dies in Ukraine, Syria, Libya, and elsewhere. Read more of this post

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Russian intelligence planned to assassinate SVR defector living in the United States

June 21, 2023 1 Comment

Aleksandr PoteyevTHE RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE SERVICES planned to assassinate a Russian former intelligence officer, who had defected to the United States and was living in an apartment complex in Florida, according to a new report. The alleged assassination plan is discussed in the forthcoming book Spies: The Epic Intelligence War Between East and West (Simon and Schuster), authored by Harvard University academic Calder Walton.

According to Dr. Walton, Russian intelligence targeted Aleksandr Poteyev, who served as Deputy Director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) from 2000 until 2010. Poteyev was reportedly in charge of the SVR’s Directorate “S”, which oversees the work of illegals —a term that refers to SVR operations officers who work in without official cover around the world. It is believed that Poteyev began working for the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1999, as an agent-in-place.

By 2010, when he openly defected to the United States, Poteyev had provided the CIA with information that led to the high-profile arrest of 10 Russian illegals by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Some believe that the SVR defector was also responsible for the arrests of Russian spies in Germany and Holland. In 2011, a Russian court tried Poteyev in absentia and sentenced him to 25 years in prison. Poteyev remains at large and is believed to be living in the United States under the protection of the CIA’s National Resettlement Operations Center.

On Monday, The New York Times reported that it had independently confirmed Dr. Walton’s claims, with the help of “three former senior American officials who spoke” to the paper “on the condition of anonymity”. According to The Times, a 2016 report by the Moscow-based Interfax news agency, which claimed that Poteyev had died in the United States, was part of a deliberate disinformation operation by the SVR, which was aimed at enticing the defector to emerge from his hideout.

When that attempt failed, the SVR allegedly recruited a Mexican scientist who lived in Singapore, Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes, to travel to Miami, Florida, in 2020, in order to locate Poteyev. But Fuentes attracted the attention of the authorities while driving around in Miami and was subsequently detained by US Customs and Border Protection agents as he was trying to board a flight to Mexico City. Fuentes then provided details of his mission to the FBI. The Bureau eventually determined that the goal of the SVR had been to assassinate Poteyev.

According to The New York Times, the realization that the SVR had planned to carry out an assassination operation on American soil “spiraled into a tit-for-tat retaliation by the United States and Russia”, which included cascading sanctions and diplomatic expulsions on both sides. The paper reports that, in April 2021, the White House ordered the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats from the United States, including the SVR’s chief of station, who had two years left on his Washington, DC, tour. The Kremlin responded by expelling an equal number of American diplomats from Russia, including the CIA station chief in Moscow.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 21 June 2023 | Permalink

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Luxembourg ex-spy official and FBI fugitive vanishes while under house arrest

June 19, 2023 2 Comments

Ruja IgnatovaTHE FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR of Luxembourg’s intelligence service, who is wanted by the United States for his role in a $4 billion cryptocurrency scam, reportedly vanished last month while under house arrest in France. Frank Schneider, 53, a citizen of Luxembourg, served as deputy director for operations in Luxembourg’s spy agency, the Service de Renseignement de l’État Luxembourgeois (SREL). In 2008, he left that post to start his own security and consultancy firm, Sandstone. His name came up frequently in the context of a spy scandal that eventually brought down Luxembourg’s Prime Minister, Jean-Claude Juncker.

In recent years, Schneider had been working for Dr. Ruja Ignatova, 44, a Bulgarian-born businesswoman who was the alleged architect behind the cryptocurrency scam known as OneCoin. In 2014, the Oxford University-educated Ignatova founded OneCoin, a cryptocurrency firm that claimed to operate on an investment model similar to Bitcoin’s. Later, however, investigators discovered that OneCoin operated as a fraudulent scheme, with no actual cryptocurrency backing it. Ignatova was subsequently indicted on multiple charges of money laundering, securities fraud and wire fraud.

However, Ignatova disappeared in 2017, after boarding a Ryanair flight from the Bulgarian capital Sofia to Athens, Greece. Ignatova remains at large and is widely seen as responsible for one of history’s largest cryptocurrency frauds, which is estimated to have defrauded investors of at least $4 billion. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is currently offering a reward of up to $250,000 in return for information leading to Ignatova’s arrest.

On April 29, 2021, French police arrested Schneider, a resident of France, in Audun-le-Tiche, a small town on the French-Luxembourg border and not far from the Belgian and German borders. His arrest took place pursuant to an international warrant, which was later confirmed to have been issued by authorities in New York. It was reported at the time that Schneider’s arrest involved the deployment of members of Brigade de recherche et d’intervention —France’s equivalent of the Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) teams in the United States.

The Luxembourger is accused by governments in several national jurisdictions of having worked as a fixer and troubleshooter for Ignatova, and in doing so enabling her to prolong her fraudulent schemes. Schneider remained at the Nancy-Maxéville prison until November 2021, when he was placed under house arrest in France. At that time, he was fitted with an ankle monitor equipped with Global Positioning System capabilities, which tracked his physical whereabouts in real time.

Throughout that time, French authorities worked with the government of the United States, where Schneider faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison for money laundering and fraud. On February 15 of this year, French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne approved Schneider’s extradition to the United States. The decision was later endorsed by Nancy’s Court of Appeal, following an attempt by Schneider’s legal team to prevent his extradition to the United States.

Last week, however, it was revealed that Schneider had gone missing while under house arrest in France. How he did so remains unknown, thought it was reported that the former intelligence official had managed to disable and subsequently evade his ankle monitoring system. Moreover, the BBC reported that Schneider went missing in May, but the French government did not publicly reveal the information until June 8.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 19 June 2023 | Permalink

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Still unanswered: Trump’s motive for withholding classified documents

June 12, 2023 5 Comments

Trump 2016THE 49-PAGE GRAND JURY indictment, filed last week in Florida by the United States Department of Justice, contains 37 criminal charges against former president Donald Trump. The charges can be summarized into a two-fold accusation: Trump is alleged to have stolen more than 300 classified documents upon leaving the White House in January 2021. Moreover, he allegedly schemed with a group of advisors and aides in order to obstruct efforts by the government to retrieve the stolen documents. Both accusations are spelled out in stark detail in the pages of the indictment.

What remains unanswered, however, is the motive. Why did Trump allegedly take several hundred classified documents from the White House? Did he select specific documents to purloin? And, if so, why these specific documents? Lastly, why did the former president go to such pains to frustrate the government’s efforts to recover the documents? There has been intense public speculation about the answers to these questions. Yet the grand jury indictment does not appear to attempt to establish the possible motive behind the alleged crime. Nor Q Quotedoes it need to. Establishing a motive is not required in order to demonstrate the need for a trial, or indeed a conviction. Given the high stakes of this case, however, establishing a motive can provide much-needed clarity in the public sphere.

Accidental or Malicious?

It is important to clarify with precision what the grand jury indictment does not state: its pages do not contain any suggestion that Trump took possession of the classified documents in order to share them with specific individuals or entities, American or foreign. Nor does the indictment suggest that the former president intended to use the classified information in his possession for personal financial gain —for instance to promote his investment ventures at home or abroad, or to gain leverage and win over potential business partners.

So, why did Trump do it? As The New York Times explained on Sunday, the indictment does offer some hints of motives, if one reads between the lines. One possible explanation stems from Trump’s time in the White House, during which he learned to associate his access to classified information as a paramount perk that came with being president of the United States. It follows that, retaining access to classified information was a way for him to maintain control over the office of the presidency. That strong need intensified even more after January 2021, as Trump was clearly “not ready to let go of the perks of holding the highest office in the country”. Indeed, the indictment describes several examples that reveal the strong sense of ownership that the former president felt about the classified documents he kept at his private residence at Mar-a-Lago, as well as his determination to keep them in close proximity to his office and sleeping quarters.

Tertiary Motives

A plausible tertiary motive for Trump’s alleged crimes is the leverage and status that access to secrets can bestow upon an individual. It is possible that Trump viewed the classified documents as the apogee of the long list of his material prizes and trophies —as an important physical legacy of the zenith of his career. That would also explain why he allegedly fought so determinedly to keep the documents in his possession, even after he was told in no uncertain terms by the government that they did not belong to him. Moreover, as The Times notes, the former president may view his classified document collection as a way to insure his legacy —for instance as a means of rebutting critics of his policies and decisions while he was in office, or even as potential “payback against perceived enemies”.

But these motives are probably less prominent in Trump’s mind. A strong and deeply held sense of ownership of government information, no matter their classification grade, is likely the driving motive behind the alleged crimes. As The Washington Post noted in an insightful article in 2022, aides to the former president said that he appeared sincere and genuine about his conviction that the classified documents “were his, not the government’s”. When he was advised otherwise by his own aides, he noticeably “gravitated toward lawyers and advisers who indulged his more pugilistic desires”, according to the paper. His attitude was not a show. It was sincere. Moreover, there is no reason to believe that it has subsided since his indictment.

A Genuine Conviction of Ownership

Trump’s latest legal woes are rooted in his genuine belief that access to classified information is something he is owed —not simply because he served as president of the United States, but because, in his mind, he should still be in the Oval Office. These deeply entrenched beliefs are unlikely to be abandoned by the former president, regardless of the cost. More importantly, these same beliefs are passionately shared by millions of his supporters. The latter are sufficient in number to wreak havoc in the Republican Party and radically reshape American politics for years to come. If Trump avoids trial or a prison sentence, his support base will view such an outcome as a form of noble victory against the “deep state”. It is therefore likely to be energized, possibly like never before. Should Trump be jailed or seek political asylum abroad in order to evade incarceration, the American political landscape will undergo a major earthquake. Regardless of the outcome of this unprecedented saga, stormy waters seem to lie ahead.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 12 June 2023 | Permalink

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Ukrainian drone strikes may have targeted Moscow homes of Russian spies

June 8, 2023 1 Comment

Rublyovka, MoscowA SERIES OF COORDINATED drone strikes that struck Moscow last week were not random, but may in fact have targeted the homes of senior Russian intelligence officials, according to a new report by an American television network, which cited knowledgeable sources and data by an open-source research firm.

In the early morning hours of May 30, a fleet of at least six unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) struck what appeared to be residential apartment blocks in Moscow’s southeastern suburbs. The targets were all located in Moscow’s Rublyovka area, which contains some of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the Russian capital. Many expressed surprise at the airborne assault, as it was the first known attack against residential targets in Moscow since the latest phase of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022.

Upon initial inspection, the targets of the early-morning attack appeared to have been chosen at random. Yesterday, however, the American television network NBC claimed that the targets of the attack had been carefully selected as “a part of Ukraine’s strategy of psychological warfare against Russia”. Citing “multiple sources familiar with the strikes”, including a senior United States official and a congressional staffer, NBC said that the targets of the attacks were all residences of Russian government personnel.

The television network also cited data by Strider Technologies, an open-source strategic intelligence company located in the American state of Utah, according to which at least one of the buildings that were struck by the UAVs housed a Russian state-controlled military contractor. According to Strider Technologies, the contractor provides services to a military unit that is known to be a front for Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR). NBC further claimed that other targets in the alleged Ukrainian operation targeted the residences of senior Russian intelligence personnel.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 08 June 2023 | Permalink

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Ukraine is running networks of saboteurs inside Russia, report claims

June 6, 2023 3 Comments

Security Service of Ukraine SBUTHE UKRAINIAN INTELLIGENCE SERVICES are training and arming cells of saboteurs inside Russia, who are responsible for several acts of sabotage on Russian soil, including a recent attack on the Kremlin, according to CNN. In an exclusive report published on Monday, the American television channel cited “multiple people familiar with US intelligence on” the activities of Ukrainian “agents and sympathizers” inside Russia.

According to the report, pro-Ukrainian saboteurs may be responsible for a growing number of incidents involving mysterious explosions, fires and malfunctions of Russian critical infrastructure. In recent months, such incidents have caused serious damage on Russian military warehouses, energy pipelines, fuel depots and refineries, railway networks, and military enlistment offices. Last month saw a widely reported attack by a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on the Kremlin, which serves as the official residence of the Russian president in Moscow.

The CNN report claims that the UAV attack on the Kremlin, and possibly other similar incidents that have taken place inside Russia in recent months, represent the “culmination of months of effort” by the Ukrainian government. The latter has now allegedly assembled and is operating semi-autonomous sabotage cells inside Russia. These cells are said to consist of Ukrainian nationals operating in an undercover capacity, as well as of Russian nationals who sympathize with Ukraine. They also include Russians who are militantly opposed to the administration of President Vladimir Putin.

These cells have been “well-trained” in sabotage and have been provided with lethal hardware —including UAVs or UAV components— by the Ukrainian government, CNN said. These provisions reach the saboteurs through “well-practiced smuggling routes” that the Ukrainians have established across the Ukrainian-Russian border. The latter is “vast and very difficult to control”, and has been so for decades, according to the report. In most cases, the weaponry used in acts of sabotage is assembled and operated from within Russia, rather than from command centers in Ukraine, the CNN report claims.

The broad strategic parameters of the saboteurs Russia have reportedly been established by the highest echelons of the Ukrainian government, under the direct supervision of President Volodymyr Zelensky. However, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) officers who handle, train and arm the saboteurs have deliberately given them significant autonomy in terms of targeting and tactics. CNN said it contacted the Ukrainian government for comment on this report. The SBU did not confirm or deny that it was involved in handling cells of saboteurs inside Russia. However, a SBU spokesperson told CNN that “the mysterious explosions and drone strikes inside Russia would continue”.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 06 June 2023 | Permalink

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Senior representatives of dozens of spy agencies held secret meeting in Singapore

June 5, 2023 2 Comments

Shangri-La DialogueSENIOR REPRESENTATIVES FROM OVER 20 intelligence agencies from around the world, including the United States and China, reportedly participated in a secret meeting in Singapore last week. The meeting allegedly took place in parallel to the Shangri-La Dialogue, a high-level security conference held annually in Singapore. The conference, focused on security issues in the Asia-Pacific region, has been organized since 2002 by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a London-based think-tank.

The Shangri-La Dialogue is typically attended by defense ministers of major Western powers and regional Asian powers, along with security and intelligence representatives from participating nations. However, the existence of a separate closed-door meeting of intelligence officials has never been reported before. On Saturday, the Reuters news agency cited discussions with “five sources”, who claimed that such a meeting occurred between June 2 and 4.

According to Reuters, the meeting was discreetly organized by the Singaporean government and held at a separate venue alongside the security summit. This type of meeting has reportedly been taking place annually for several years, but was previously undisclosed. The secret meeting is believed to have included representatives from approximately two dozen major intelligence agencies from countries such as the United States, China, and India. The United States intelligence community was represented by Avril Haines, the Director of National Intelligence, according to the news agency.

The Reuters report did not mention whether the Russian intelligence community participated in the event. When asked about the alleged secret meeting, a spokesperson from the Singapore Ministry of Defense said that participants at the Shangri-La Dialogue included “senior officials from intelligence agencies”, who “also take the opportunity to meet their counterparts”. The spokesperson added that the Singapore Ministry of Defense “may facilitate some of these bilateral or multilateral meetings”, because “participants have found such meetings held on the sidelines of the [main event] beneficial”.

The governments of the United States, China and India did not respond to requests for comment by Reuters.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 05 June 2023 | Research Credit: C.E. | Permalink

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Russia says it uncovered U.S. operation to compromise Apple phones

June 2, 2023 1 Comment

Apple iPhoneRUSSIAN OFFICIALS SAID THEY uncovered a sophisticated espionage effort by the United States government, which targeted the smartphones of thousands of Apple users living in Russia, including foreign diplomats. According to the Russians, the operation was carried out by the National Security Agency (NSA), an American intelligence agency that specializes in gathering foreign signals intelligence and securing the United States government’s information and communication systems.

The source of the allegation is the Federal Security Service (FSB), Russia’s primary counterterrorism and counterintelligence agency. On Thursday, the FSB said that “an intelligence action of the American special services” had been uncovered by FSB officers with the assistance of the Federal Protective Service. Known in Russia by its initials, FSO, the Federal Protective Service operates federal emergency communications systems and provides personal security for high-ranking government officials.

According to the FSB, “several thousand Apple telephones” were targeted in the alleged NSA operation, including devices belonging to “domestic Russian subscribers”, as well as devices belonging to foreign diplomats stationed in Russia. The latter allegedly include diplomats from Israel, Syria and China, according to the FSB. The Russian agency also claimed that Russia-based foreign diplomats from North Atlantic Treaty Organization member-states had their phones targeted, as well as diplomats from former Soviet states.

In the same press release, the FSB accused the NSA and Apple of working in “close cooperation” with each other —an allegation that the Russian government has been making for several years. In a follow-up media statement, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the United States of engaging in “hidden data collection” and dismissed Apple iPhones as “absolutely transparent”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov urged Russians to avoid using Apple products and lamented reports that one in three Russian government workers continue to utilize Apple products for their personal use. When asked by reporters if the Russian government had plans to outlaw the use of Apple products by government employees, Peskov responded that the Kremlin did “not have the power to even recommend that”, except for those government employees with access to classified information.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 02 June 2023 | Permalink

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Albanian court releases Russian and Ukrainian bloggers suspected of espionage

May 29, 2023 3 Comments

Gramsh AlbaniaA COURT IN ALBANIA has ordered the release from prison of two Russians and one Ukrainian national, who were arrested nearly last August on suspicion of carrying out military espionage. On August 20, 2022, Albania announced the arrests of Russian nationals Svetlana Timofeeva and Mikhail Zorin. Arrested alongside the two Russians was a Ukrainian citizen, who was identified in media reports as Fedir Alpatov.

Albanian authorities said the three foreigners had been arrested while attempting to enter the Gramsh military installation, a defunct small-arms factory, which is located 50 miles south of the Albanian capital Tirana. During the Cold War, the Gramsh factory specialized in producing Soviet-designed AK-47 assault rifles. After the collapse of Albania’s communist system in the early 1990s, the factory was turned into a storage facility and was subsequently used to deactivate and decommission expired munitions.

Following their arrest, the three foreign nationals said they were “urban explorers” who engaged in “industrial tourism”, a type of travel that centers on entering and photographing dilapidated industrial facilities around the world. Soon after her arrest was announced, the United States government-funded Radio Free Europe (RFE) confirmed that Timofeeva, was indeed “one of Russia’s most famous urban explorers”. According to RFE, Timofeeva, 34, was known under the nom de guerre “Lana Sator” and maintained an Instagram page that was followed by over 250,000 users.

The plot thickened in March of this year, when Timofeeva, while still in detention, applied for political asylum in Albania. It emerged that Timofeeva was wanted by the Russian government on charges of “illegally obtaining information constituting a state secret”. In February of this year, the Ministry of Justice of Albania approved a request by Moscow to extradite Timofeeva to Russia, in order to face espionage charges. However, this decision was later overturned by an Albanian judge, a development that reportedly angered Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Timofeeva’s lawyers argued that she had openly opposed the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and had voiced public criticism of President Putin. As a result, Timofeeva had left Russia and had been living in exile in Georgia at the time of her arrest. Some observers, however, suspected that at least one of those arrested had links to Russian intelligence. It was reported that Zorin had admitted being an informant for the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). However, the precise conditions under which Zorin’s alleged admission was made are not known.

In a statement released to the media last week, Albania’s Elbasan Trial Court said that, even though Timofeeva, Zorin and Alpatov would be released from detention, the investigation against them on suspicion of espionage would continue for the time being.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 29 May 2023 | Permalink

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Turkey claims it uncovered Israeli spy cell that targeted Iran

May 24, 2023 1 Comment

Israeli consulate Istanbul TurkeyON MONDYA, TURKEY’S NATIONAL intelligence organization (MİT) announced the arrest of several members of an alleged spy network, who were reportedly recruited, trained and handled by Israel’s intelligence agency, the Mossad. Two members of the alleged spy ring were arrested two months ago, according to the Office of the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor and Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT).

The arrests reportedly came as a result of an investigation into a threatening package sent that was sent in the mail by one of the spy suspects. The investigation was initiated by the Istanbul branch of the General Directorate of Security (Turkish police), which later revealed a connection with a separate 18-month long counterintelligence investigation by the MİT. It eventually led to the arrest of  Selçuk Küçükkaya, a Turkish national, who is accused of operating as the head of the alleged spy ring.

On Monday, Istanbul police arrested 11 associates of Küçükkaya, who the MİT believes to be members of the alleged spy cell. Some reports indicate that Turkish authorities are still searching for two additional suspects who are believed to be part of the alleged spy ring. The MİT states that the spy ring had established a front company through which its members conducted business activities in Iran, with the assistance of intermediaries operating abroad.

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s office alleges that Küçükkaya made contact with Israeli intelligence through a member of the so-called Gülen movement. The Gülen movement consists of supporters of Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, who runs a global network of schools, charities and businesses from his home-in-exile in the United States. The Turkish government has designated Gülen’s group a terrorist organization and claims it was behind the failed 2016 coup against Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Küçükkaya is further-accused of having had several in-person meetings with Mossad officers in various locations around Europe. During those meetings, Küçükkaya allegedly received assignments designed to test his intelligence-gathering abilities. It is alleged that Küçükkaya was eventually hired as a spy by the Mossad, who also provided him with instructions on how to use a clandestine communication system to contact his Israeli handlers.

The claim by the Turkish government that it has busted a Mossad spy cell operating in its territory is not unprecedented. In October 2021, the MİT disclosed the arrests of 15 members of an alleged Mossad spy ring following a series of raids across four Turkish provinces. Last December, Turkish media reported that 44 individuals had been detained and interrogated for allegedly spying on Palestinian exiles living in Turkey on behalf of the Mossad. What is new about this latest claim is the alleged connection between the Mossad and the Gülen movement, which the administration of Turkish President Erdoğan views as an existential domestic security threat.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 24 May 2023 | Permalink

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U.S., Russian spy agencies publish rival ads encouraging would-be informants

May 18, 2023 2 Comments

Russia Ukraine WarRIVAL ONLINE CAMPAIGNS BY American and Russian intelligence agencies are encouraging each other’s citizens to contact them, share information and possibly even defect. At least three ads have been  on social media, with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issuing the earliest one in February of this year. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and its Russian counterpart, the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), are now believed to have published similar ads.

The FBI ad initially appeared on Twitter, directing users to the website of the Bureau’s Washington Field Office. There, a text in Cyrillic urges Russian nationals to “change [their] future” by contacting the FBI. The CIA followed suit on Monday of this week by posting a video on its new channel on Telegraph, a popular social media platform among young Russians. The CIA video portrays frustrated Russian government employees morally torn by the Kremlin’s policies. It concludes with them contacting the CIA through a secure online connection. A narrator’s voice states, “my family will live with dignity thanks to my actions”. Viewers are then assured that their safety is the CIA’s highest priority, should the choose to do the same.

Shortly after the CIA video appeared online, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Director of Information, Maria Zakharova, said that the Russian government would respond “appropriately” to what she called a “CIA provocation”. On Wednesday, a number of Western media outlets reported that the SVR had unveiled a short recruitment video seemingly targeting Americans. The video, shared on Telegram, includes archival news footage of United States military and police personnel, flag-burning demonstrators, and protests against abortions. It concludes with footage of President Joe Biden overlaid with a sniper crosshairs. A narrator states in English: “If you want to help normalcy, help the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation”.

Amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, both the United States and Russia are engaging in extensive cyber-enabled operations aimed at each other’s targets. However, these recruitment videos underscore the continued need for highly placed human sources and their central role in multi-platform intelligence collection efforts.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 18 May 2023 | Permalink

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China sentences US citizen to life for espionage following closed-door trial

May 15, 2023 1 Comment

Hong KongA CHINESE COURT HAS sentenced a United States passport holder to life in prison on espionage charges, following a brief closed-door trial. However, no information has been made available about the precise charges against him. Closed-door trials are frequent occurrences in Chinese courts, especially in cases relating to national security, which include charges of espionage against the state. However, life sentences are exceedingly rare for espionage cases.

The individual convicted in this case has been named in media reports as John Shing-Wan Leung, 78. He is reportedly a permanent resident of Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, over which Beijing has near-absolute control. It is not known if Leung was a Chinese citizen at any time in his life. China does not recognize joint citizenship and requires its citizens to drop their Chinese citizenship when swearing allegiance to another country. The Reuters news agency reported on Monday that Leung was at some point a member of two American-based Chinese expatriate groups, which it described as “pro-China”. These are the United States-China Friendship Promotion Association and the United States-China Friendship Association.

Leung is believed to have been arrested in Hong Kong in 2021 by local Chinese counterintelligence officers. He has been held in prison ever since his arrest. A press release issued on Monday by the Intermediate People’s Court in Suzhou, a city located in southern Jiangsu province, 700 north of Hong Kong, said Leung had been found “guilty of espionage”. The press release added that Leung had been “sentenced to life imprisonment and deprived of [his] political rights for life”. However, the statement provided no information about Leung’s alleged crimes, or the country he was found to have spied for.

According to the BBC, the United States embassy in Beijing refused to discuss the details of this case, stating only that the United States government was aware of Leung’s conviction. An embassy spokesperson told the BBC that “the Department of State has no greater priority than the safety and security of US citizens overseas”.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 15 May 2023 | Permalink

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Senior members of South Korea’s largest trade union charged with espionage

May 12, 2023 Leave a comment

KCTU South KoreaSOUTH KOREAN PROSECUTORS have charged four senior members of one of the country’s largest trade unions with espionage on behalf of North Korea. The move, which is seen as highly controversial by South Korea’s liberal opposition, has come a few months after the conservative administration of President Yoon Suk Yeol launched what some commentators have described as South Korea’s largest counter-espionage operation in over 30 years.

The operation came to light on January 18, when hundreds of police officers, led by officers of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), conducted search raids at a number of regional offices of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU). Founded in the mid-1990s, the KCTU represents over 1.1 million members. Most of its membership consists of supporters of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), a left-of-center liberal coalition that ruled South Korea until last year. Since its establishment in 2014, the DPK has been engaged in a bitter political rivalry with the People Power Party (PPP), a conservative coalition that currently governs South Korea.

On Wednesday, four KCTU officials, all of them men, between the ages of 48 and 54, were charged with several violations of South Korea’s National Security Act, including carrying out espionage on behalf of North Korea and meeting illegally with North Korean intelligence officers. South Korean government prosecutors accuse the four of meeting several times with their alleged North Korean handlers. The alleged meetings too place during overseas trips in Vietnam and Cambodia between 2017 and 2019.

While abroad, the four alleged spies were allegedly trained and given instructions to establish what prosecutors describe as “an underground organization [operating] under the guise of legal union activities”. The four men were allegedly tasked with steering the KCTU toward actions and rhetoric that were against the United States and Japan. They were also asked to helping organize worker rallies against the policies of the PPP. In other instances, the alleged spies photographed American military installations located in South Korea.

The opposition DPK has strongly condemned the charges, calling them politically motivated and describing them as a return to the days of rightwing military rule, which South Korea experienced until 1987. The NIS remains highly controversial among left-of-center South Koreans, many of whom view it as a corrupt state entity that is politically aligned with the conservative PPP. Between 2018 and 2022, the liberal DPK government spearheaded what it described as an “anti-corruption campaign” inside the NIS. As a result of that campaign, three former NIS directors were charged with —and eventually convicted of— secretly diverting funds from the agency’s clandestine budget. The funds were eventually used to aid the re-election campaign of the then-South Korean President, Park Geun-hye. Their apparent goal was to prevent the DPK from coming to power, fearing that the left-of-center party was too close to Pyongyang. President Park also went to prison for accepting financial bribes from the NIS.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 12 May 2023 | Permalink

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US-led ‘Five Eyes’ alliance dismantled Russia’s ‘premier espionage cyber-tool’

May 11, 2023 3 Comments

Computer hackingAN ESPIONAGE TOOL DESCRIBED by Western officials as the most advanced in the Russian cyber-arsenal has been neutralized after a 20-year operation by intelligence agencies in the United States, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. The operation targeted Turla, a hacker group that cyber-security experts have long associated with the Russian government.

Turla is believed to be made up of officers from Center 16, a signals intelligence unit of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), one of the Soviet-era KGB’s successor agencies. Since its appearance in 2003, Turla has used a highly sophisticated malware dubbed ‘Snake’ to infect thousands of computer systems in over 50 countries around the world. Turla’s victims include highly sensitive government computer networks in the United States, including those of the Department of Defense, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the United States Central Command.

The Snake malware has also been found in computers of privately owned firms, especially those belonging to various critical infrastructure sectors, such as financial services, government facilities, electronics manufacturing, telecommunications and healthcare. For over two decades, the Snake malware used thousands of compromised computers throughout the West as nodes in complex peer-to-peer networks. By siphoning information through these networks, the Turla hackers were able to mask the location from where they launched their attacks.

On Tuesday, however, the United States Department of Justice announced that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), along with its counterparts in the United States-led ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence-sharing alliance, had managed to dismantle Snake. This effort, codenamed Operation MEDUSA, was reportedly launched nearly 20 years ago with the goal of neutralizing the Snake malware. In the process, Five Eyes cyber-defense experts managed to locate Turla’s facilities in Moscow, as well as in Ryazan, an industrial center located about 120 miles southeast of the Russian capital.

The complex cyber-defense operation culminated with the development of an anti-malware tool that the FBI dubbed PERSEUS. According to the Department of Justice’s announcement, PERSEUS was designed to impersonate the Turla operators of Snake. In doing so, it was able to take over Snake’s command-and-control functions. Essentially, PERSEUS hacked into Snake and instructed the malware to self-delete from the computers it had compromised. As of this week, therefore, the worldwide peer-to-peer network that Snake had painstakingly created over two decades, has ceased to exist, as has Snake itself.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 11 May 2023 | Permalink

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