Russia recruits saboteurs in Europe through TikTok and Telegram
Russian Intelligence's special structures organize sabotage in Europe, recruiting perpetrators through Telegram and TikTok, the Dossier investigative center reported on July 23.
Russian Intelligence officers (formerly the GRU) under the Colonel Denis Smolyaninov are behind series of sabotage in Europe.
They recruited a man in Latvia via Telegram in early 2024. He threw a Molotov cocktail into the Museum of Occupation in Riga, following their instructions.
The same team organized a disinformation campaign in late 2023, when a group of Moldovan citizens painted stars of David on buildings in Paris and its suburbs amid Israeli-Palestinian war. The performers were recruited through TikTok.
Smolyaninov's team is looking for agents through job-seeking chats, among pro-Russian activists, criminals, or radicals (both right and left).
Russia also engages criminal organizations from Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Moldova, and Serbia in sabotage, recruiting criminals through Internal Ministry's operatives, the Dossier's sources said. Some of the agents have EU passports.
The military war may be swinging in our favor, but the information war continues.
Just as an army needs soldiers, so does a free society need its journalists to ensure that people have access to honest, trustworthy voices to understand the world around them.
For the past five years, The New Voice of Ukraine has been working tirelessly to push back against Russian narratives and defend democracy. But we cannot do it alone.
Please consider supporting us on Patreon for just $5 a month – your donation does directly to supporting journalists and ensuring that this front of the infowar says solid and defended.
Thank you.
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google News
