Russia's GRU Spies Tasked With 'Ultra Urgent' Europe Mission: Report
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Russia's foreign military intelligence agency has tasked its agents to collect information about Kremlin critics to potentially deploy "active measures" against them, according to an independent Russian language investigative outlet.
In a Telegram post on Tuesday, the Dossier Center, an investigative unit funded by exiled Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, said Russia's GRU is looking to collect data on "opinion leaders in Europe who disagree with the Russian government."
This would include politicians, journalists, bloggers, cultural figures, and other prominent figures who could face "hostile actions."
Newsweek has contacted the Dossier Center and the Russian defense ministry for comment.
This illustrative image from October 15, 2024 shows a cargo plane at Leipzig/Halle Airport Germany where investigators suspect Russian sabotage behind a fire at the airport's DHL center, carried out by Moscow's GUR.
This illustrative image from October 15, 2024 shows a cargo plane at Leipzig/Halle Airport Germany where investigators suspect Russian sabotage behind a fire at the airport's DHL center, carried out by Moscow's GUR.Why It Matters
The investigation by the Dossier Center comes amid warnings that the GRU is escalating a campaign of sabotage and subversion against the West.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said last month a database showed between 2023 and 2024 there had been a tripling of Russian attacks, which western countries have not developed an effective strategy to thwart.
What To Know
The Dossier Center's post said that Russian agents had been tasked by their superiors in early 2025 to urgently collate data on Kremlin critics influencing public opinion.
The information included sources of funding and personal data such as work and home addresses of politicians, journalists, bloggers, cultural figures, and other famous people.
The outlet said that "various hostile actions can be prepared based on the data obtained" with the help of agents and through one-off online recruitment of perpetrators who could be criminals or from far-right groups.
The post did not describe what kind of actions would be carried out but it referred to intelligence that an assassination attempt was being prepared against Alexander Shvarev, who is said to be behind the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel which posts lurid details about Kremlin intrigue and Russia's security services.
In a detailed report published April 23, the Dossier Center referred to media reports of attacks on sites in Europe blamed on Moscow such as a suspected arson attack on a Polish shopping mall and an Ikea store in Vilnius last year.
The Dossier Center named Denis Smolyaninov as one of the GRU officers leading the spy agency's operations. British media reporting of Dossier's findings focused on how he had been identified as one of the suspected masterminds behind a cross-border parcel-bomb plot.
In July 2024, a package ignited in the DHL cargo area at Leipzig airport and similar fires broke out at airports in Warsaw and the UK. A fire also broke out at a DHL logistics centre in Birmingham, England, on July 22.
Another high-profile case linked to Moscow was the uncovered plot to assassinate Armin Papperger, the head of the German concern Rheinmetall.
What People Are Saying
The Dossier Center: "The GRU is setting an ultra urgent task for its agents—to collect and provide data on opinion leaders in Europe who disagree with the Russian government. It is likely that 'active measures' are being planned against them."
CSIS report on March 25, 2025: "Russia is engaged in an aggressive campaign of subversion and sabotage against European and U.S. targets, which complement Russia's brutal conventional war in Ukraine."
What Happens Next
In September 2024, Richard Moore, chief of MI6, the UK's foreign intelligence service and CIA chief Bill Burns warned that Moscow is conducting a "staggeringly reckless" sabotage campaign against Ukraine's Western allies.
Moore said his agents are working to stop the spread of covert infrastructure attacks and that disinformation, sabotage and arson were consistent threats to the U.K and Europe whose leaders will worry that they will increase.
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