The leak of names may indicate that there are big weaknesses in Russian intelligence, says Jussi Lassila, a senior researcher at the Foreign Policy Institute.
Laura Kangas,
Antti Palomaa
The Ukrainian military intelligence service released on Monday list (switch to another service)which it claims contains information on hundreds of FSB employees of the Russian security service.
According to the military intelligence service, the persons on the list operate in Europe.
According to , the list must be taken seriously.
Senior Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute Jussi Lassila estimates that if the information on the list keeps itching, the revelation will be a serious setback for Russia and could further weaken its intelligence.
List of passport and telephone numbers
The list published on the website of the Ukrainian Military Intelligence Service contains 620 names.
– FSB employees involved in criminal activities in the attacking country on European territory are listed in the title of the list.
In addition to names, the list includes birthdays and locations, as well as passport and telephone numbers. Some names include the car’s registration number and car model.
All persons on the list are registered with the headquarters of the security service FSB or at an address on the same street in Moscow.
The list does not show where in Europe each person may be working or what they are doing.
Leakage can weaken the FSB
If the leak turns out to be true, it will be a big blow to Russia, Jussi Lassila estimates.
– This is putting pressure on Russia and the country’s intelligence service.
According to Lassila, the leak could significantly impair FSB’s operations. Intelligence is needed for intelligence, which is not queued indefinitely.
– If it is known with what false identities these people move, then they must be transferred to other tasks, which in turn paralyzes the intelligence service.
Russia’s intelligence is divided into three intelligence services, of which the FSB conducts domestic intelligence. However, the FSB is also likely to have employees abroad, and according to Lassila, it is possible that the people on the list work in Europe and also in Finland.
If there are people on the list in Finland, according to Lassila, Finland can benefit from the information being published. For example, Finland may receive new information about Russia’s intelligence methods. Exposed FSB employees may have a trip home ahead.
– What happens when Supo catches a person acting with some kind of undercover identity? He gets his shoes and leaves Finland, Lassila says.
In Russia, even leaks
The leak may also contribute to the fact that there are significant weaknesses in Russia’s intelligence, Lassila says.
Russian intelligence personnel have been leaked to the public many times before, for example through the Bellingcat site of investigative journalism.
– There have been a considerable number of examples of Russia’s intelligence capability and operational security being in a rather weak position. After all, there has been quite amateurish stuff there, Lassila says.
Lassila refers to a former Russian agent, for example Sergei Skripalin and his daughter Julia Skripalin to a poisoning case in which Bellingcat revealed that the suspects in the poisoning had links to the Russian military intelligence service GRU.
The scripals were hospitalized for weeks after being exposed to neurotoxin in Salisbury, Britain in 2018.
According to Lassila, Russia’s intelligence is schematic and lacks agility. When its operating methods are known, the risk of leakage also increases.
– This gives quite a lot to consider about the operational capacity of the Russian administrative Iron Fist. It may not be as scary and awesome as it is implied.
Russian diplomats are deported
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led many European countries to intervene in Russian intelligence more prominently. In recent days, several countries have expelled Russian diplomats on suspicion of espionage.
A total of dozens of Russians were deported in Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland and the Czech Republic on Tuesday. Poland and the Baltic countries, among others, have previously reported deportations.
Russia has said it is responding to the same extent and has already deported Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian diplomats.
Finland has not said that it has expelled Russian diplomats. The Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs did not comment on the matter to on Wednesday.
Finland expelled one Russian diplomat in 2018 due to a neurotoxic attack in Salisbury. At that time, the Prime Minister’s Office spoke about the matter in public.
In addition to Finland, many other countries expelled Russian diplomats for the attack.
Russia has denied its involvement in the poisoning strike.
Chief of Security Police Antti Pelttari said on Tuesday that there are several dozen spies from foreign countries in Finland. Pelttari did not tell how many of them are Russians.
Supo is working to prevent the recruitment of new spies.