As Europe Gets Tough with Russian Spies, Pro-Kremlin 'Influencers' Are Operating in Plain Sight in the US
As Europe Gets Tough with Russian Spies, Pro-Kremlin 'Influencers' Are Operating in Plain Sight in the US
Heidi Siegmund Cuda investigates how a system of 'legalized bribery' is allowing a network of pro-Kremlin lobbyists to operate unchecked by the US authorities
When is it espionage, that is the question?
Europe seems to be answering.
In April, two alleged Russian spies were arrested in Germany, accused of scouting US military facilities for sabotage, according to German authorities. The Russian-German nationals are accused of working to undermine the military support provided to Ukraine by Germany.
Last week, an officer with ties to the far-right AfD party in Germany went on trial in Dusseldorf, charged with espionage on behalf of Russia.
In the UK, a sixth person was arrested in February charged with being part of a Russian spy ring operating in the UK. The arrests began last year, and all are Bulgarian nationals accused of “conspiring to collect information intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy”.
Prosecutors in the Netherlands outed a Russian spy, Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov, who applied for an internship at the International Criminal Court in the Hague to steal intelligence under a fake identity, according to reports. He had previously posed as a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University, in order to gather intelligence in the lead up to the full-scale invasion of Russia’s war in Ukraine. He is now in Brazil in prison on a drug conviction.
Both the Polish internal security agency (ABW) and that of the Czech Republic carried out joint searches into alleged Russian espionage in recent weeks.
"Actions aimed at organising pro-Russian initiatives and media campaigns in EU countries have been documented," ABW said in a statement.
"We have uncovered a pro-Russian network that was developing an operation to spread Russian influence and undermine security across Europe," Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala wrote on X/Twitter.
Among those sanctioned are pro-Kremlin politician Viktor Medvedchuck and a website determined to be a pro-Russian influence operation.
Last year, Poland charged 16 foreigners with espionage after shutting down a Russian spy ring accused of sabotage and propaganda operations.
Sweden and Norway have also arrested Russians accused of spying since 2022, and intelligence agents in Greece reported the owner of a knitting shop in Athens is an alleged Russian spy. In addition, Czech Intelligence just outed a husband and wife in Greece as GRU spies, who aided in bombings and poisonings across Europe for Unit 29155, Russia’s assasination and sabotage squad. And a Latvian member of the European Parliament spent decades secretly working for Russia, according to a report by The Insider, based on leaked emails.
Both Ukraine and Estonia have ejected leaders of pro-Russian churches from their countries in recent weeks.
But in America, espionage activities appear to occur in plain sight.
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