Russian intelligence is suspected of working to recruit people online to commit crimes in Europe, the Washington Post reports.
– Russia is fighting the West in the West, on the West’s territory, says a top NATO official to the newspaper.
The Washington Post has reviewed documents from the Kremlin seized by European security services. In the documents, it appears that the Kremlin has compiled a list of 1,200 German factory workers who have expressed criticism of Ukraine via social media in an Excel document.
This is to be able to manipulate the workers to spread their opinions in the large workplaces.
2,600 factory jobs have disappeared partly due to EU sanctions against, among other things, Russian gas, which led to increased production costs and closures. That has raised concerns among workers and criticism of the sanctions has become more widespread.
Wanted to use the concerns to spread criticism
According to the documents, Russian intelligence wanted to try to use this unrest among workers to organize strikes and spread criticism of the anti-Russian policies pursued by the EU since the start of the war of invasion.
– Russia is fighting the West in the West, on the West’s territory, a high-ranking NATO official told the newspaper.
German officials say they are not aware of any incidents that could be linked to Germany but that they take the Kremlin’s activities very seriously.
“The accusations are nothing more than a firestorm of Russophobic hysteria,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Washington Post.
Government: Be aware that Sweden is a potential target
Possible attacks and sabotage in Europe that are suspected of being linked to Russian intelligence have increased recently. When Ulf Kristersson visited Washington to participate in the NATO summit, he told Time Magazine that Sweden is a possible target for Russian sabotage, but that so far it has mostly been cyber attacks.
– We are well aware that Sweden is a potential target for sabotage, he says.
At a press conference earlier this week, the government said that Russia is the biggest threat to Sweden until 2030. This is stated as the basis for how the new security strategy is designed.
Suspicions of Russian sabotage are increasing
Last summer raised National Center for Terrorism Threat Assessment security level to high threat. The authority announced this week that Sweden is not as designated a terror target, partly because of the new NATO membership. But the Swedish terror threat level remains at a four on a five-point scale.
In the past year, suspected Russian spies have been arrested in Bavaria and two people are suspected of having started a fire in London on premises where emergency equipment that was to be sent to Ukraine was stored. Suspected Russian sabotage has also taken place in the Czech Republic, France and several Baltic countries.