Revealed: Little-known Russian counterintelligence unit that targets foreigners

AN INVESTIGATIVE REPORT BY the Wall Street Journal discusses a little-known Russian counterintelligence unit that targets foreign diplomats in ways that often “blur the lines between spycraft and harassment”. Among other activities, this secretive unit is likely behind a string of operations targeting American citizens, which have led to the arrest of at least three of them since 2018. These include the Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich, who earlier this year became the first American reporter to be held in Russia on espionage charges since the Cold War.

The Journal Text highlights the activities of the Department for Counterintelligence Operations, or DKRO, a highly clandestine unit belonging to the counterintelligence arm of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). It is believed that the DKRO is responsible for monitoring the activities of foreigners living in Russia. The unit reports to Vladislav Menshchikov, director of the counterintelligence arm of the FSB. Prior to his current post, Menshchikov headed the Office of Special Presidential Programs, a Kremlin outfit that operates and safeguards secret underground facilities in Russia’s metropolitan areas.

According to the paper, the DKRO consists of sub-units that focus on various nationalities of foreigners living in Russia, including diplomats. Its first and largest section, known as DKRO-1, focuses on Americans and Canadians. The operations of this sub-unit have intensified significantly in recent times, as relations between Washington and Moscow have worsened. The Journal’s information reportedly came from “dozens of interviews” with senior Western diplomats in Europe and the United States, American citizens that were previously detained and imprisoned in Russia, as well as Russian analysts and journalists who now live abroad.

In addition to Menshchikov, the DKRO has been behind operations that led to the arrests of two other Americans, Paul Whelan (arrested in 2018) and Trevor Reed (arrested in 2019), both of whom were charged with carrying out espionage for the United States. However, most of the activities of the DKRO focus on monitoring the activities of foreign subjects inside Russia. These include journalists and diplomats. Many of the DKRO’s targets have been subjected to campaigns of harassment and intimidation, the Journal claims. Examples include following diplomats’ children to school, breaking into diplomats’ residences to plant recording devices, sabotaging diplomatic vehicles, and even “cutting the power to the residence of the current U.S. Ambassador”.

The paper also reports that, according to American diplomatic staff, the Russian police officers that are posted along the perimeter of the United States embassy in Moscow are in fact “DKRO officers in disguise”. The Journal said it reached out to the FSB and the Kremlin for comment on these allegations, but received no response. The paper also reached out to the United States embassy in Moscow and to the State Department, but officials there declined to comment.

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