Swiss intel warns of surge in Russian espionage, calls Ukraine war gross violation of law

As the Russia-Ukraine war continues unabated, the Swiss intelligence has warned that authorities should do everything in their power to prevent Russian spies, who were expelled from Western nations over the ongoing conflict, from entering nations like Switzerland. In the annual report published Monday, the Federal Intelligence Service surveyed a range of threats including violent Islamic extremism, cyberattacks and an increasingly polarized world between autocracies and democracies such as the growing rift between the US and China. 

However, the Swiss intelligence flagged most threats posed by the war in Europe, migration and Russia. The federal service said that espionage activity has been increasing in recent weeks. It said that if western nations succeed in keeping Russian intelligence officers from being replaced by new ones deployed under the diplomatic cover, then the capacities of Russian spies in those places “will be weakened with lasting effect,” it said, as per The Associated Press. 

This, in turn, could prompt Russia to deploy more of such operatives to different nations. The Swiss intelligence assessment added, “These might also include Switzerland, which is why the instruments available for preventing the entry of such intelligence service officers must be utilized to the full”. The spy service especially pointed out Geneva which hosts several other international and United Nations (UN) institutions as an “espionage hotspot”. 

Swiss intelligence terms Russia-Ukraine war ‘gross violation’

The report even labelled the Russia-Ukraine war “a gross violation of international law” which has shattered the decades-old European security, said the court the war “is anything but encouraging for the Putin regime” partly because the conflict has cemented the idea in the minds of generations of Ukrainians that Russia is their enemy. 

Head of the Swiss defence department, which monitors the intelligence service, Viola Amherd said that Switzerland has shown a “clear commitment to the Western community of values” in response to the conflict. Notably, Switzerland has traditionally touted its neutrality in the ongoing Moscow-Kyiv war. In a foreword to the report, she wrote, “We are witnessing a turning point that is rocking the very foundations of the security framework in Europe and changing it forever”.

Earlier, in another major revelation pertaining to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, some Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) personnel have continued to secretly operate mostly in Kyiv, and have shared intelligence between US and Ukraine. According to a New York Times report, the operatives have been involved in an intelligence-sharing operation between Washington and Kyiv despite US President Joe Biden publicly maintaining that it will not deploy American troops in the war-torn nation. 

Image: AP