Moscow's shadow war in Europe:Ukraine refugee as a saboteur for Russia?
by J. Bartz, K. Belousova, N. Metzger, K. Skowron, U. Stoll
Russian Telegram channels recruit “throwaway agents” for attacks in Europe. A foreign refugee from Hesse is also accused. Head-on about the case of Serhij S.
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“It is just a happy coincidence that the package caught fire on the ground and not while the plane was in flight,” said then-President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution Thomas Haldenwang at a hearing on October 10th.
British intelligence chief Richard Moore blames Russia: “We recently uncovered a shockingly reckless Russian sabotage campaign in Europe. It is intended to stoke fears about the consequences of supporting Ukraine and to test the West’s resolve.”
How Serhij S. was recruited on Telegram
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What plan did the suspected saboteur have?
“He came to Wroclaw, visited the place he was supposed to go to and took photos,” she says. The recruiters of “Lucky Strike” Serhij S. are said to have offered 4,000 euros for an attack. But Aljona F. emphasizes that her husband never wanted to set an incendiary device or anything similar. Rather, he intended to deceive his clients with posed photos.
That's why they took photos of wood in Neustadt and deliberately burned it for their husband. The images can be found in investigation documents. “He asked me to take photos to pretend that he started the crime. Then he passed them on to these people and left there,” says Alyona F.
He was stupid because he wanted money. This is his fault.
Aljona F. about her partner's sabotage plan
Did S. really just want to fake the attack? The Polish investigators have doubts. Therefore, “combustible materials in the form of liquid and solid firelighters” were found on the person arrested. Serhij S.'s Polish lawyer did not respond to a request from ZDF.
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What is known about the people who ordered the sabotage?
One thing is clear: Before Serhij S. traveled to Wroclaw, he was in contact with at least one Russian Telegram channel and was recruited by it. When S.'s attack failed to materialize, those behind it contacted his wife Alyona F. via the “Lucky Strike” channel. She doesn’t know how “Lucky Strike” got her number.
They were looking for Serhij, but I didn't know what happened to Serhij, so I asked, “Who are you?” They said, “We want to know where Serhij is.”
Alyona F.
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More Telegram channels are looking for Saboteur
And “Lucky Strike” doesn’t seem to be the only attempt to recruit sabotage via Telegram channels. In the Estonian capital Tallinn, journalists Marta Wunsch and Artur Isumrudow from the news magazine “Delfi” are researching Russian attempts to respond via Telegram.
On a Telegram channel, former mercenaries from the Wagner group came across advertising for the “Privet Bot” channel. He's also openly looking for a saboteur. With a fake profile, the journalists managed to gain insight into the attempted answers.
What do you most want to do: set fire to Ukrainian military equipment, set fire to a truck transporting military equipment, kill a fascist living in the Baltics?
Quote from the reply chat with “Privet Bot”
“They actually want supposed fascists to be liquidated among us. It is also very clear that they have no problem killing someone or ordering a murder,” says Wunsch. The Telegram channel in the EU has now been switched off.
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Russia tried to conceal responsibility
The Putin regime is trying to conceal the fact that Russian secret services are behind cases of sabotage, says former Vice President of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven. “The purpose of this advertisement is to deflect responsibility from the authors.”
It is of course much cheaper to commission a person with no affiliation to do this than an agent from one of the Russian secret services, whose background it would be easier to get to know.
Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven, former Vice President BND
“Disposable agents” make sabotage campaigns easier
So-called “disposable agents” who are recruited over the Internet for small sums of money are making sabotage campaigns easier than ever before, emphasizes Bundeswehr officer Sönke Marahrens. Until autumn 2024, he was director at the European Competence Center for Countering Hybrid Threats in Helsinki.
“In the past, as an agent leader, you had to recruit a spy or a saboteur, you had to pay him, you had to determine his trust and you had to lead him over a longer period of time,” says Marahrens. Create a website now. “I can create success for small sums of money,” reports Marahrens.
And if it becomes known that this was an Australian refugee, then the level of support among the population will naturally decrease. For a Russian spy leader, this is a double whammy.
Sönke Marahrens, hybrid threat expert
Telegram research
:Sabotage Recruitment: Trail leads to Russia
Acts of sabotage are increasing in Europe, and investigators continue to find traces to Russia. ZDF frontal research now shows how recruiters respond to Telegram Saboteur.
by C. Huppertz, A. Izumrudov, I. Lozovsky, B. Obermayer, H. Roonemaa, M. Vunš, F. Schmid
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