The continent is a theater of intelligence operations
Russian spies in Europe are being expelled en masse
Two Russian agents poisoned a defecting Russian officer in England in 2018. Archive
A large number of employees in Russian embassies are considered spies.
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Russia's invasion of Ukraine severely damaged its army, and hit its economy.
Now the Russian spies are being chased.
On April 7, Austria, which had been a center of Russian espionage for several years, became the latest country to expel suspected Russian intelligence officers.
This brings the total number of Russian officials expelled from the United States and Europe, since the war began, to more than 400. The mass expulsions, the largest in history, are likely to have lasting effects on President Vladimir Putin's intelligence services and their ability to spy - and sabotage - in Europe.
Although both America and Bulgaria expelled dozens of Russians in the first week of the war, the last round of expulsions began in Slovakia and Bulgaria in mid-March, followed by Poland and the Baltic states on March 23;
Then another large group, including 75 from France and Germany, on 4 April.
On April 5, the European Union sent more than 150 Russians back home.
Most of them are suspected spies, though not all;
Lithuania has expelled Moscow's ambassador, and other countries are preparing for more expulsions.
Unprecedented expulsion
The expulsion of spies on such a large scale is unprecedented, more than double the number recorded in 2018, when 28 Western countries expelled 153 suspected spies, in response to Russia's attempt to assassinate former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal, who spied for Britain, in Salisbury. , in England.
Mark Polymeropoulos, who led CIA operations in Europe and Eurasia until 2019, says the recent expulsions are "exceptional and long overdue," explaining, "Europe has been their historical playground, and the number of their diplomatic staff is always very large in many of these places."
Of his last years in service, Polymeropoulos commented, "We really considered Europe a major battlefield with the Russians."
The difficulty of the task
The immediate goal of the expulsions is to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
Officials of the Russian Security Service, the military intelligence service that targeted Skripal, played a key role in planning and waging the war.
The Western move, too, is intended to make it more difficult for Russia to do the core business of intelligence: stealing secrets.
And the presence of Russian intelligence, in some European countries, has grown to the point that it has become difficult for local security services to monitor suspected and confirmed spies.
Last year, a German intelligence chief said that Russian espionage remained at the same levels as during the Cold War.
Before the recent expulsions, there were about 1,000 undisclosed Russian intelligence officers in embassies and consulates in Europe.
The rooting out of intelligence officers helps protect Europe from Russian subversion.
In a way, the recent expulsions have their roots in the past year.
In April 2021, the Czech Republic accused the Russian Military Intelligence of bombing an arms depot;
It expelled 81 Russian diplomats, while the United States expelled 10 other diplomats, and other European countries expelled 14 Russian officials.
That incident, and others like it, prompted NATO to conduct a comprehensive NATO audit of spies stationed, spies who have been operating in a foreign country for long periods, in Western embassies and their activities.
The audit found that the embassies were teeming with huge numbers of unauthorized intelligence officers from all three of their agencies.
And in October of last year, "NATO" expelled eight employees accused of spying, in Brussels, prompting Russia to close the alliance's office in Moscow, in return.
diplomatic bags
The purpose of removing Russian officials from Europe is not only to prevent them from doing undesirable things, but to prevent them from aiding and abetting others.
the GRU officers who poisoned Skripals and bombed Bulgaria did not pretend to be diplomats in London or Sofia;
They were sent from Moscow under what is known as an unofficial cover.
The operatives who targeted Skripal were notoriously tourists visiting Salisbury Cathedral.
Such covert action often relies on the support of local embassies, such as the use of diplomatic pouches to transport illegal materials across borders.
Making this kind of thing more difficult makes sense, but it comes at a cost because Russia reciprocates.
After the Russian officials were expelled, in 2018, Moscow responded by expelling 189 Western officials.
One consequence is that Western officials have less chance of engaging ordinary Russians.
This is why foreign ministries are often less keen on expulsions than security officials are.
Expulsion is not a solution
A number of Western spies were also affected in Moscow.
In practice, this may be less of a problem than it appears.
On its soil, the Russian security services have more resources and powers at their disposal to track Western intelligence officers who are in embassies, in Moscow, than the other way around — a Russian officer can move around and identify people more easily, in Berlin, than a CIA officer in the Russian capital.
Also, expulsion is not a permanent solution.
Russia tends to send new spies to replace those who have left, which requires counterintelligence agencies in Western countries to operate from scratch.
Some Western officials say their goal is to ensure that Russia's bloated embassies in Europe are no larger than their Western counterparts in Moscow, a principle the Czech Republic insisted on last year.
This requires constantly denying entry visas to newcomers, and actively sharing information among allies, so that an officer expelled from one country is not sent to another.
• Although both America and Bulgaria expelled dozens of Russians in the first week of the war, the last round of expulsions began in Slovakia and Bulgaria in mid-March, followed by Poland and the Baltic states on March 23; Then another large group, including 75 from France and Germany, on 4 April. On April 5, the European Union repatriated more than 150 Russians, most of them suspected spies.
• The purpose of removing Russian officials from Europe is not only to prevent them from doing undesirable things, but also to prevent them from aiding and abetting others.
• 1000 undeclared Russian intelligence officers in embassies and consulates in Europe.
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