Russian military intelligence, from Scandinavia to the Western Balkans

The Russian military intelligence collects information from countries and alliances of countries it considers as adversaries, in order to use this information for its policies.

The report published by the Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service states that unlike the military intelligence of other countries, the Russian one gathers more detailed information including almost all the important sectors of a country, reports The Geopost.

“Russian military intelligence, known as the GRU collects information for Russia’s political and military leadership on countries and alliances of countries that Russia considers its adversaries or likely adversaries. One of the distinctive features of Russian military intelligence compared with its counterparts in other countries is that, in addition to military intelligence, it also gathers information on the target countries’ and regions’ economy, politics, technology and ecology. Different intelligence disciplines and working methods are used to gather intelligence.”

Over the years, Russia has tried to oust Western countries. She has attempted to achieve her goal through various channels. Russian intelligence centers are among Russia’s main contributors to damaging the image and stability of other countries.

The report lists five of Russia’s main intelligence centers.

“Five intelligence centres in Western Russia have been operating against Europe for decades:

• the 73rd Intelligence Centre in St Petersburg
• the 264th Intelligence Centre in Kaliningrad,
• the 74th Intelligence Centre in Smolensk,
• the 269th Intelligence Centre in Moscow
• the 1194th Intelligence Centre in Murmansk

GRU’s area of responsibility is estimated to be 1,500 km from the Russian border; the presence of agents in more distant locations cannot be ruled out either.”

In recent years, precisely since 2014, Russian military intelligence has been mainly focused on Ukraine, although its scope is much wider.

“The GRU intelligence centres’ area of responsibility west of Russia extends from Scandinavia and the Balkans to Western Europe. Since 2014, the intelligence centres have been operating particularly intensively against Ukraine.”

“Since 2014, the intelligence centres have also been organising “agent-combat groups” deployed against Ukraine to carry out bombings and assassinations and prepare arms caches for activation when receiving a signal from Russia (for example, in the event of a major outbreak of hostilities between Russia and Ukraine).”

Agents generally receive negligible financial remuneration for their assignments or even perform them free of charge. Many operational officers at the intelligence centres are corrupt and keep some of the agents’ pay for themselves.

Over the past decade, effective cooperation between intelligence services of NATO member states and partners has led to consistent identification and conviction of agents of GRU intelligence centres in countries bordering Russia.

The Geopost