Spy scandal: Italy expelled two Russian officials and arrested officer who leaked NATO secrets

Italian naval officer arrested for flagrant crime of espionage in favor of Russia, when he handed over confidential documents to a Russian serviceman, which led to the Russian ambassador in Rome was summoned, Italian police and government reported on Wednesday.

The Italian officer, frigate captain, was caught in the middle of a “clandestine meeting” with a Russian citizen on Tuesday evening in Romeaccording to a police statement.

“The intervention took place during this clandestine meeting between the two men, who were caught exchanging confidential documents in exchange for a sum of money” explains the statement.

The operation took place under the supervision of the Italian intelligence services and the defense staff, according to the police.

“They were caught in the exchange of confidential documents in exchange for a sum of money”

According to the newspaper The Republic, the naval captain worked in the office of the Chief of the Defense Staff and he had access to “a wide range of documents” related to both Italian and NATO defense activities.

When exchanging confidential documents the Russian gave the Italian 5,000 euros in cash, according to Corriere della Sera. Examination of the material seized from the Italian officer’s apartment would have already shown that in addition to the Italian documents, he had delivered top secret NATO documents, as well not only national security threatened, but also that of other countries.

The Republic said it was the “most serious” incident with Russia since the end of the cold war, recalling a precedent of 1989, when Russian and Bulgarian spies were discovered in Italy.

The expelled Russians are a soldier who was surprised when he received the information and his immediate boss

the A Russian citizen is a military officer at the Russian Embassy in Italy and has not been officially detained because of his diplomatic status, but yes will be expelled from the country, according to Italian media. His direct superior will also be expelled.

In reaction to the arrest, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy said it summoned the Russian ambassador to Rome, Sergey Razov, for urgent conversations with the senior ministry official.

INCREASING TENSIONS WITH THE WEST

Within the European Union and NATO, Italy is one of the countries with the warmest relations with Russia. Your former prime minister Silvio berlusconi He is a personal friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Russian Embassy in Rome confirmed that its military attaché was arrested by police on Tuesday, but said that it was “inappropriate to comment” in detail.

“In any case, we hope that what happened will not affect bilateral relations between Russia and Italy”, the embassy said, adding that Razov was addressing the Foreign Ministry.

The case is set in the context of growing tensions between Moscow and the West, more recently for the imprisonment of the critic of the Kremlin Alexei Navalny, a move that resulted in EU sanctions against senior Russian officials.

Also last week, the Kremlin issued a statement in which Putin regretted “The unsatisfactory state of relations between Russia and the EU”, that he blamed the “unconstructive and often conflicting policies of our partners”.

Earlier this month, Moscow-Washington relations hit a new low after the President of the United States, Joe biden, called the Russian president of “murderer”, which pushed Putin to say: “it takes someone to know one”.

SPY NETWORKS AROUND THE WORLD

The truth is that distrust of commercial, military and cultural “attachés” is growing in democracies around the world. Unlike what happens in other delegations with a more democratic representation, the titles that appear on your business cards are just a facade. The main function of these diplomats is to frequent political, commercial, journalistic and cultural corridors to be able to obtain sensitive information.

The network has been armed since the days of the Soviet KGB, which was renamed more recently FSB (Federal Security Service, for its acronym in Russian), after several restructurings in its organization chart. Depends on President Vladimir Putin.

The latest incident discovered happened last week when Bulgaria, member of the EU and NATO like Italy, expelled two Russian diplomats after the arrest of six people in the country, including several officials of the Ministry of Defense, suspected of spying for Russia.

By the end of 2020, Netherlands they also discovered that the network was operational in the country. That is why they ordered the immediate expulsion of two diplomats from Russian headquarters in The Hague. He accused them of being part of a team dedicated to steal confidential technological data. According to information in the hands of Dutch researchers, the “attachés” were dedicated to spying on high-tech companies and an educational institution. Both have been declared persona non gratas by the European nation’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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