Published: Just now
Yesterday, Sweden expelled five Russian diplomats, but at least eight identified suspected spies are still working in Stockholm.
It is revealed today by the Task Review, which has identified a total of 38 Russian intelligence officers in the Nordics.
– Russia’s intelligence capacity is placed here to conduct illegal activities against Sweden, i.e. harmful activities against Sweden, says head of counterintelligence Daniel Stenling at Säpo.
The Nordic public service companies SVT, DR, NRK and EPN have, with the help of the excavation organization Dossier, identified 38 Russian intelligence officers who were or are active at the embassies in the Nordics.
It appears in the second episode of the series The “Shadow War” which is broadcast today.
Yesterday, Foreign Minister Tobias Billström (M) said that five Russian diplomats are being expelled from Sweden.
– Their activities on our territory have been incompatible with their status as diplomats, Tobias Billström told SVT yesterday.
Five are asked to leave Sweden
Sweden has today summoned Russia’s ambassador Viktor Tatarintsev and informed him that five people employed at the embassy are being asked to leave the country because their activities are incompatible with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
But there are designated spies still at work.
In the “Shadow War” 21 suspected spies who were active at the embassy in Stockholm are identified. Three of them were expelled in 2022 and five have left the country for other reasons, but as of yesterday, 13 of 21 identified suspected spies were still at the embassy.
Even if the five most recently expelled diplomats are part of that group, at least eight suspected spies remain.
In the “Shadow War”, four active intelligence officers at the Russian embassy in Norway are also revealed. A week before the series premiere, however, Norway expelled 15 Russian diplomats, and it is unclear if the last four active out of a total of ten identified intelligence officers were among those expelled.
Denmark expelled 15 Russian diplomats in connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The seven intelligence officers exposed in Denmark have all left the country.