Journalists of Scandinavian broadcasting companies have revealed the names of dozens of Russian spies who could have worked or are working in the Nordic countries under the guise of diplomats.
Photo: The exterior of the Russian Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden. JESSICA GOW/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
This is reported by Yle.
The authors of the Norwegian NRK, Swedish SVT, and Danish DR, in cooperation with Dossier Center, identified dozens of Russian diplomats who may be working for the Foreign Intelligence Service, GRU, or FSB.
Yle journalists have identified three such Russians. Dmitry Otorochkin, in particular, may be an employee of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR). He first worked at the Russian embassy in Helsinki, then in Copenhagen. The man was sent back to his homeland in the spring of 2022, he had three different VKontakte pages with different information, but he was recognized by his photo.
“According to the interviewed experts, intelligence officers often work in such tasks. They are not associated with a clearly defined diplomatic mission, which gives them the freedom to conduct intelligence activities. The most important diplomats of an embassy are rarely intelligence officers,” the authors stated.
The journalists also identified 60-year-old Vladimir Komarov and 37-year-old Dmitry Dvinyaninov, both of whom are alleged GRU officers who were expelled in the spring of 2022.
At the same time, the Swedish SVT identified 21 Russian spies, at least 13 of whom worked at the Russian Embassy in Stockholm until at least April 2022. And the NRK announced the identification of 38 Russian intelligence agents operating in Northern Europe.
On April 13, Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt said that Norway had designated 15 employees of the Russian Embassy in Oslo as undesirable persons for espionage activities.
Also, recently, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said that five Russian diplomats would be expelled from the country.