After the mass expulsion of Russian intelligence officers from European countries, Moscow relocated part of its espionage activities to Japan, using the country to obtain high-tech components for its military-industrial complex. This is reported by The New York Times, as conveyed by UNN.
According to the publication, after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the expulsion of hundreds of Russian agents from Western states, new employees of Russian special services arrived in Japan. They are engaged in purchasing or illegally obtaining technologies that subsequently end up in the Russian defense sector.
As NYT notes, Japan is attractive to Russian intelligence due to its high level of technological development and, at the same time, insufficiently strict legislation in the field of combating espionage.
According to the publication, coordination of operations in Tokyo is handled by the previously unknown 20th Directorate of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (GRU). Its employees work under the cover of diplomats and businessmen and are engaged in searching for, purchasing, or stealing military technologies, followed by smuggling them to Russia.
As NYT sources claim, the activities of this unit in Japan are coordinated by 49-year-old Maxim Filchenkov, who officially works as a representative of Aeroflot. The publication notes that Russian intelligence has used work in the airline as cover for its employees since Soviet times.
According to the newspaper's interlocutors, Filchenkov is a career GRU officer, previously worked in Japan, and has the necessary contacts to find the required equipment and organize its supply to the Russian Federation.
The publication also recalls the assessment of the Ukrainian authorities, according to which about 90% of Russian missiles and drones contain Japanese components. In particular, such parts were found in the Kh-101 cruise missile, which on May 14, during a massive strike on Kyiv, hit a residential high-rise building, resulting in the deaths of 24 people.
14 countries declare China's claims to the South China Sea groundless13.07.26, 02:57