these Russian spies who travel across Europe

The news put into perspective every Saturday, thanks to the historian Fabrice d’Almeida.

Two Russian espionage agents were arrested this week in Germany. They are accused of preparing a sabotage operation. German authorities spotted these two German-Russians who were preparing to act against aid to Ukraine. They undoubtedly had in mind acts like those which took place in 2014 in the Czech Republic: a powder manufacturing factory in Vrbetice was the subject of a powerful explosion, killing two people. Another followed a few months later. These facts were made public by the Czech Prime Minister, Andrej Babis, in 2021. He accused the GRU and its action unit 29155 of being responsible for this damage.

Since the Cold War, Russia has made Germany a playground for its services which relied on the East German secret services. In the 1980s, the number of these spies was estimated at no less than 4,000 men and women, some in seemingly subordinate positions. But over time, moles who entered the 1950s even occupied leading positions, such as Günter Guillaume, this advisor to West German Chancellor Willy Brandt who was discovered in March 1974 to be a captain in the East services. Germans. Brandt is forced to resign by this affair which shows how Eastern European spy services prosper in Europe, like those of the Russians today.

In France also

France, of course, is not immune to their networks either, and a failed KGB agent even informed the CIA of the existence of a French mole within NATO, and even the intelligence services. It took a few years to isolate the case of Georges Easter, a Frenchman who since 1944 had worked for the Soviet Union out of conviction. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964. He was pardoned by President Pompidou, who had been his classmate at the Ecole Normale Supérieure. Since then, other Soviet agents have been revealed, such as the Russian consul in Marseille in 1980. He had obtained the plans and tests of the Mirage 2000.

In fact, current sabotage attempts must be seen in this perspective of an imperialist power which is always looking for ways to weaken its adversaries, its competitors and even to subjugate its partners. This is all part of the secret agent toolkit.