Germany Says Russia Using ‘Disposable Agents’ To Conduct Sabotage

The German government has launched a public campaign warning about Russian attempts to recruit so-called “disposable agents” through social media for espionage and sabotage, AFP reports.

The accusation comes after years of a shadow war which has involved apparent tit-for-tat sabotage attacks and assassinations both in Europe and in Russia. Mystery fires have erupted, for example, in defense sector manufacturing plants on the European continent and in the UK. Also, similar potential sabotage events have been observed inside Russia. Many observers see it as a behind the scenes ‘dirty war’ which parallels the Ukraine conflict.

German police and intelligence services allege these operations often involve untrained individuals committing acts like arson, property damage, or photographing or monitoring sensitive installations.

People are at first unwittingly recruited through online forums and popular social media sites, and as conversations proceed, targeted individuals are offered sums of money in return for carrying out criminal acts.

According to AFP’s reporting on the fresh statements from Berlin authorities:

The campaign warns that suspected Russian spies aim “to destabilize Germany with the help of people in Germany”.

“This gives them a decisive advantage: they don’t have to ‘get their hands dirty’ themselves.”

Chief of Germany’s BND foreign spy agency Bruno Kahl, warned this week, “Sabotage, espionage and propaganda activities carried out by foreign intelligence services deliberately undermine the stability of free societies.”

“They are an attack on our democracy through deception, intimidation and subversion,” he added. The Czech Republic has reportedly issued a similar public alert.

Telegram is one specific platform named by European authorities as being used by Russian intelligence to recruit unwitting actors. Interestingly, it was of course Telegram which lately came under suspicion and a far-reaching crackdown by French authorities, especially during last year’s Pavel Durov arrest saga.

Just this summer, ‘Russian saboteurs’ were alleged to be behind a suspected arson attack at a Bundeswehr facility in Erfurt, Germany - which destroyed half a dozen large military trucks. NATO and the Ukrainians have been suspected of doing their own dirty war sabotage operations inside Russia as well.

German authorities also just days ago charged that Russian intelligence has been utilizing small drones in order to monitor weapons shipments routes in German border states.