The espionage scandals show the growing weight of the Russian army

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian military spies are ridiculed abroad, but the military 's influence on the Kremlin' s foreign policy is accentuating and it 's unlikely that it' s likely. she puts an end to her "black operations".

The West blames the military intelligence agency GRU for several failed attacks this year, including attempting to kill former spy Sergei Skripal with a nervous agent in the English city of Salisbury and in an attempt to hack the global watchdog for chemical weapons in the Netherlands.

Russia's denials of wrongdoing have sometimes provoked laughter in the West and some of the world's media have described the GRU, which helped to annex the Crimean peninsula to Ukraine in 2014, as a than blundering enthusiasts.

But Western intelligence experts and Russian sources familiar with Kremlin policy-making say the West must remain on guard.

"It's easy to laugh at some of the poor GRU objects and their skills, but we should not underestimate them, nor the dangerous and reckless use of nerve agents in our streets," he said. British Security Minister Ben Wallace told a security conference on Tuesday.

According to intelligence experts, the GRU has intensified its activities, including operations with blacks – secret missions that are not attributable to the organization that carries them out – as tension rises between Russia and Russia. 39, which imposed sanctions on Moscow for the annexation of Crimea.

"What Russia is doing is governed by the rules of war, which means in particular that the GRU has been left behind," said Mark Galeotti, a member of the European University Institute in Florence.

"As the East-West confrontation gets stronger, the wrestling agencies are getting stronger and the GRU is much more active," he said, adding that the GRU sometimes had the freedom to choose the best way to do it. execute his orders.

If the West hopes that the shame of the public will push President Vladimir Putin to muzzle the GRU, whose official emblem is represented by a bat over the world, he may be disappointed.

A source close to the Ministry of Defense, who requested anonymity, said the GRU would continue its work.

"We are under attack," said the source. "We must be strong."

Asked on Monday for a possible upheaval in the defense ministry, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the poor quality of the charges against GRU did not justify such changes.

"Russia believes that it is useless to reduce the activities of the GRU, because it would act of a unilateral concession which would give nothing and which would probably be considered as a sign of weakness", said Tatyana Stanovaya, who has good relations with the political elite and leads the political analysis. R.Politik cabinet.

"I think that malicious operations could even be carried out more often than in the past," she said.

The Kremlin is appalled by the informal channels of communication between Western and Russian intelligence agencies, she said, and sees the world of espionage as a kingdom without rules.

Putin, a former intelligence officer himself, seems provocative. He said that last week espionage was one of the most important professions in the world and called Skripal a traitor.

Despite allegations by Western media about the alleged incompetence of the GRU, some in Moscow are proud.

"If anyone doubts that our employees are working everywhere, he should not have them now," Konstantin Zatulin, a legislator, told the state television, while refusing to confirm the allegations.

"SOME CYCLES OF NEW EMBARRASSING"

The attacks on the Organization for the Protection of Chemical Weapons in the Netherlands and on Skripal, in which the former spy and his daughter were poisoned with the Novichok nerve agent but have survived, are not the only signs that West sees increased GRU activity.

The United States has indicted seven suspected spies and the West has united to accuse the GRU of a worldwide hacking campaign.

Britain has produced a video surveillance sequence of two suspects who allegedly attempted to kill Skripal and the Bellingcat investigative website on Monday named the second suspected military doctor of the GRU after appointing the first man.

The Netherlands has named the four suspected GRU agents who allegedly attempted to hack the OPCW.

But nothing indicates that the Kremlin is momentarily embarrassed by the woes of the GRU, said Galeotti.

"I suspect that the Russian calculation indicates that, if it is only a few cycles of embarrassing news, harsh words and a bit of embarrassment, we can simply overcome that, "he said.

Vladimir Frolov, a former Russian diplomat, said the mistakes made by the GRU were not a disaster.

"What was shown was nothing but simple problems in extremely risky but effective operations that achieved their main goals," wrote Frolov in Russian Republic magazine.

GRU has become much more active since the annexation of crime because of a broader foreign policy.

Before 2014, Moscow was mainly limited to the former Soviet Union. But since then, Russia has become more active in the Middle East and Africa, while the United States and European countries have accused Moscow of interference in their affairs.

In addition to the intensification of GRU activity, there are other signs of increased military influence.

Particularly from Syria, where Russia helped turn the tide for President Bashar al-Assad, the Defense Ministry had emerged from the trap even before the Kremlin when Syrian forces accidentally shot down a Russian military aircraft the month of latest. "Israel at the origin of the incident.

The Minister of Defense, Sergei Shoigu, was also one of only two companions that Putin had brought with him on his hikes this summer, the other being the head of the security service of the FSB. Shoigu, 63, is not involved in party politics, but polls often place him among the most popular presidential candidates.

Another sign of the growing influence of the army and its own influence, Shoigu ordered the erection of a giant cathedral dedicated to the armed forces and spoke last week of the need to create a second capital, Siberia .

"The influence of the army will increase," said Stanovaya, of R.Politik. "Putin thinks Russia is in a state of war".