Sunday 8th of September 2024
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"the five-eyes would never dream of spying on russia"......

It seems Russia's tentacles extend around the world.

The UK has made multiple arrests this year alone, accusing people of spying for Moscow while Ireland stopped issuing diplomatic visas to Russians amid concerns Vladimir Putin's embassy in Dublin had become a hotbed of intelligence operatives posing as attachés.

 

Inside Vladimir Putin's 'paranoid' spying network, with tentacles extending around the world    By Riley Stuart

 

In Brazil, there's an investigation underway about how alleged Kremlin snitches have been able to lead double lives and use the country as a springboard to infiltrate other nations.

But as Australians found out this week, when allegations of Russian spying surface in 2024 they appear less like James Bond, and more akin to suburban Brisbane.

On Friday, the AFP arrested two Russian-born Australian citizens at their Everton Park home, in the Queensland capital's north, and charged the couple with preparing an espionage offence.

Kira Korolev, 40, and her 62-year-old husband Igor are accused of working together to obtain sensitive information regarding national security interests.

Neither has entered a plea. The offences carry a maximum jail term of 15 years.

The charges have shone a light on one of the globe's most notoriously dark spaces: the ways Russia gathers its intelligence.

Andrei Soldatov, an exiled Russian investigative journalist living in the UK and an expert in Kremlin's intelligence agencies, says Mr Putin's invasion of Ukraine had forced the regime to look at other options.

"After [the invasion in] 2022, Russian agencies saw massive expulsions of diplomats. Many of these diplomats were actually spies," he says.

"So, Russian agencies needed to find some way to make up for these expulsions and now, they're relying more and more, on foreign nationals."

Russia has three main intelligence services: the FSB, which is largely responsible for domestic intelligence, the SVR, which is concerned with foreign undercover work, and the GRU, which handles military intelligence.

Mr Soldatov says Russia's agencies have a different objective to those in Western countries.

"For Western intelligence agencies, the main goal is to collect intelligence, but for countries like Russia the main goal is to protect political stability in the country, and protect the political regime," he says.

"It's more about spying on and trying to identify countries that might have some plans to undermine political stability in Russia. So it's a bit more paranoid."

The AFP has accused Ms Korolev, who works for the Australian Defence Force, of secretly travelling to Russia, where she allegedly instructed her husband on how to log into her work account and access material to send to her.

The couple had been living in Australia for more than a decade before the alleged offending.

'Routine' for Russia to 'threaten families' 

Australia is not the only country making accusations about alleged Russian spies.

British authorities arrested six Bulgarians earlier this year in various locations around the UK, who will go on trial in October accused of spying for Russia.

In Austria, the March arrest of a 61-year-old man accused of selling classified information to Russia revived fears the country had become the most compromised in the European Union.

Brazilian authorities are probing how Russian operatives may have infiltrated the country using forged documents, before using their new identities to travel the world.

The list goes on.

Jenny Mathers, a senior lecturer in international politics at Aberystwyth University, in Wales, says there are no limits to what Moscow's regime will do to get information.

"The Russian state will use any means that it can to get results," she says.

"This is not a state, or an intelligence agency, which has a particular interest in adhering to any ethical dimensions as they carry out their operations."

Dr Mathers says officials from the country's three main intelligence organisations "keep tabs" on Russians abroad.

"They are always under the eye of Russian authorities, but perhaps more importantly they'll likely have family and other ties back in Russia who can be used as leverage," she says.

"It's routine for Russia's regime to threaten family members of these types of people and say things like, 'If you don't come back to Russia and do these things for us, then your mother might be at risk, or there might be some problems that your family members face.'

"Or, they can use leverage like something unpleasant in a person's background to threaten them with."

Keir Giles, a Russia expert at London-based international affairs think tank Chatham House, says Australia was not immune to Russian intelligence gathering.

"Distance doesn't lend protection," he says. "There's been a comforting illusion that the further away you are from Moscow, the safer you are.

"That's led countries in the far west of Europe like Spain, Portugal, even Italy and France to neglect their defence spending because they think they're not a target.

"However, the ways of sabotage, attacks and attempted assassinations across Europe recently has shown that Russia has other means of reaching out that are not dependent on geography and countries that are much further afield are a target as well."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-14/russian-spy-allegations-in-australia-put-spotlight-on-espionage/104093308

 

GUSNOTE: IN REGARD TO THE FIVE-EYES, AUSTRALIA HAS AT LEAST ONE "INTELLIGENCE" SERVICE (ASIO), THE AMERICAN EMPIRE HAS 17 "INTELLIGENCE" AGENCIES, THE UK HAS QUITE A FEW THAT WE KNOW OF (MI5, M16 — SIS: WE WORK OVERSEAS TO HELP MAKE THE UK A SAFER AND MORE PROSPEROUS PLACE) The Government of the United Kingdom maintains several intelligence agencies that deal with secret intelligence. These agencies are responsible for collecting, analysing and exploiting foreign and domestic intelligence, providing military intelligence, and performing espionage and counter-espionage (INCLUDING DOUBLE-AGENTS). 

CANADA HAS AT LEAST ONE AND NEW ZEALAND ONE...

german spies....

German secret service ‘finally fit for war’ – Welt
The armed forces’ spy agency could soon receive more powers, according to a draft bill seen by the news outlet...

 

Germany’s Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD) could soon be granted additional powers to protect itself from infiltration by perceived enemies, particularly Russia, the news outlet Welt reported on Friday.

Citing a draft bill on the expansion of MAD’s powers, Welt stated that the agency is looking to use its expanded intelligence capability outside German military bases during foreign missions. Additionally, it wants to be able to monitor not only its own soldiers, but also foreign nationals, by intercepting their communications and using informants.

The German Defense Ministry is reportedly seeking the additional powers in order to strengthen MAD for the “turning point” previously outlined by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, referring to the political situation in Europe and the perceived threat posed by Russia.

“The amendment grants the Military Counterintelligence Service the necessary powers to protect the Bundeswehr against espionage and sabotage by foreign powers, as well as against extremist attempts at infiltration from within its own ranks, even during foreign missions,” a ministry spokesperson told the outlet, noting that the new law is expected to take effect this year.

The reason for the German Defense Ministry’s push to pass the bill as soon as possible is that by the end of 2027, a “war-ready brigade” of nearly 5,000 troops is expected to be permanently stationed on NATO’s eastern flank in Lithuania, near the borders with Belarus and Russia’s Kaliningrad Region. In April, Germany sent an advance military team to the Baltic nation.

According to the ministry spokesperson, the current legal framework prevents MAD from being able to counter Russian infiltration attempts, as the secret service is only allowed to operate within German barracks, and only against its own soldiers during foreign missions.

Moscow has condemned German plans to establish a permanent presence in Lithuania, stating that such a move represents the “continuation of escalating tensions and creating pockets of danger” for Russia along its border, which would force the country to take “special measures to ensure our own security.”

Russia has also repeatedly stressed that it poses no threat to any NATO states and has no plans or interest in attacking any European nations. Russian President Vladimir Putin has called such suggestions “bulls**t” that is being touted by Western officials in order to exploit their own citizens.

https://www.rt.com/news/600176-germany-fit-for-war-russia/

 

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plotting....

MOSCOW, (Sputnik) - Ukraine’s plot to assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin was financed by the United States, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday.

Ukrainian defense intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said on Saturday that Ukraine's secret services had tried but failed to assassinate Putin.

“Yesterday one of the leaders of the Kiev regime, Budanov, admitted that Ukraine’s intelligence was plotting the assassination of the Russian president.

This assassination attempt was being prepared, again, with US money, without which there would be no malicious activities of the Ukrainian intelligence, the Ukrainian armed forces and, general, Bankova Street [government in Kiev],” Zakharova said on Telegram.

 

The spokeswoman suggested that Washington should use the money it provides to Kiev to fund “the police and other agencies which were established to administer law within the US.”

 

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240714/moscow-says-us-financed-ukraines-plot-to-assassinate-putin-1119374090.html

 

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investigating the FBI....

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOyKXbhzU-8

Ray McGovern on the Failed Assassination of Donald Trump

 

HERE RAY EXPLAINS HOW "INVESTIGATIONS" BY THE FBI ARE DERAILED BY THE FBI. IT'S FASCINATING, INCLUDING THE MENTION OF SETH RICH.... SAME WITH THE CIA "INVESTIGATIONS" OF CIA/FBI COCK-UPS...

 SOME OF THE CULPRITS — WHO INVENTED RUSSIAGATE ON BEHALF OF HILLARY CLINTON — ARE STILL "WORKING" FOR JOE BIDEN, INCLUDING JACOB (JAKE) SULLIVAN....

 

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SEE ALSO: https://yourdemocracy.net/drupal/node/35992

a US spy....

Evan Gershkovich’s arrest in Russia is not an attack on journalism or freedom of speech, as Moscow has irrefutable evidence of his involvement in espionage, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has stated.

The Wall Street Journal journalist was arrested in Ekaterinburg in March 2023 while attempting to gather classified information about a military facility, according to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).

“We have irrefutable evidence that Gershkovich was engaged in espionage,” Lavrov said at a press conference in New York on Wednesday during his visit to the US as part of Russia’s presidency of the UN Security Council.

Lavrov noted that Russian and American intelligence agencies are in contact regarding potential prisoner swaps, under an agreement between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden established before June 2021.

“The topic doesn’t like haste,” Lavrov said, adding, “Americans periodically throw it into the public space, which doesn’t help.” Despite this, he emphasized that the two countries are in contact on the matter and that “this whole thing is no attack on journalism.”

Gershkovich was formally charged in a Russian court last month, accused of acting on behalf of foreign intelligence when he attempted to collect classified information about Uralvagonzavod, a major Russian tank and armored vehicle manufacturer, in Ekaterinburg. Both The Wall Street Journal and Gershkovich have denied the allegations, claiming he is being held unlawfully.

The American was gathering “classified information in secret” and was “caught red-handed,” Putin told journalist Tucker Carlson in an interview in February. Putin added that Moscow was open to swapping Gershkovich, citing previous successful negotiations between the countries’ intelligence services, and noting that the US and its allies have more imprisoned Russians who might be offered in exchange.

Late last year, the US and Russia conducted a high-profile prisoner exchange, swapping Russian businessman Viktor Bout for WNBA star Brittney Griner. Bout was imprisoned in the US on gun-running charges, which he denied, while Griner was serving a nine-year prison sentence on drug charges after cannabis oil was found in her luggage at a Moscow airport.

 

https://www.rt.com/news/601241-russia-evidence-gershkovich-spy/

 

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spooked.....

 

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