Russia has created a secret department for sabotage and assassination across Europe - WSJ
Kyiv • UNN
The Russian military intelligence headquarters has created a special tasks department to carry out sabotage in Europe. The unit is engaged in assassinations, sabotage, and recruitment of agents abroad.
Russian spy services have a new shadowy unit that targets the West and conducts covert attacks across Europe and other countries. This is reported by The Wall Street Journal with reference to representatives of Western intelligence, UNN reports.
Details
According to the newspaper, this shadowy unit is known as the Department of Special Tasks.
He is based at the Russian military intelligence headquarters, an extensive glass and steel complex on the outskirts of Moscow known as the Aquarium. Its operations, which have not been previously reported, have included assassination attempts, sabotage, and a plot to plant incendiary devices on aircraft
The officials told the publication on condition of anonymity that the creation of this department reflects Moscow's position against the West during the war.
The sources told the publication that the department was created in 2023 in response to Western support for Ukraine and "includes veterans of some of Russia's most daring covert operations in recent years.
It is noted that the Kremlin considers the West to be complicit in Ukraine's attacks on Russia. It is allegedly about the Nord Stream pipeline blowing up, assassinations of high-ranking officials in Moscow, and strikes using long-range Western missiles.
Russia believes that it is in conflict with what it calls the "collective West" and acts accordingly, even threatening us with a nuclear attack and building up its army
The new unit, known to Western intelligence officials by the acronym SSD, is believed to be behind a slew of recent attacks on the West, including an attempted assassination of the CEO of a German arms manufacturer and a plot to place incendiary devices on planes using giant shipping service DHL.
The SSD united various elements of Russia's intelligence services. It took over some powers from the FSB, the country's largest intelligence service, and absorbed Unit 29155, which Western intelligence and law enforcement agencies say was behind the 2018 poisoning of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in the United Kingdom.
According to Western intelligence officials, the SSD has at least three broad missions: carrying out assassinations and sabotage abroad, infiltrating Western companies and universities, and recruiting and training foreign agents. The department has attempted to recruit agents from Ukraine, developing countries, and countries considered friendly to Russia, such as Serbia. The department also runs an elite special operations center known as Senezh, where Russia trains some of its special forces.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Colonel General Andriy Averyanov and his deputy, Lieutenant General Ivan Kasyanenko, are in charge of the department. The Czech police are looking for Averyanov on suspicion of participating in an operation to blow up an ammunition depot in 2014.
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The newspaper writes that in December, the European Union imposed sanctions on a division of the department, without specifying the name of the SSD, for organizing "coups, assassinations, bombings, and cyberattacks" in Europe and other countries.
In December, the US indicted SSD members on similar charges. The State Department is offering a reward of up to $10 million for any information about the five members accused of cyberattacks on Ukraine.
"The SSD's hostile activities peaked last summer but have recently subsided, according to U.S. and European officials. The lull in activity could be aimed at creating diplomatic space for Moscow to negotiate with the new US administration, according to two European intelligence chiefs," The Wall Street Journal added.
Recall
The Security Service of Ukraine detained a high-ranking official of the Anti-Terrorist Center, who had been working for the FSB since 2018. His parents knew about his cooperation with the enemy and justified Russian aggression, and they are also being served with a notice of suspicion.
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