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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Shaun Walker

Russia turning to sleeper cells and unofficial agents

Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has made things more difficult for Russia’s intelligence services. Photograph: APAImages/Shutterstock

An Argentinian couple living in Slovenia, a Mexican-Greek photographer who ran a yarn shop in Athens and now three Bulgarians arrested in Britain. Over the past year, police and security services across the globe have accused numerous people living apparently innocuous lives with being Russian intelligence agents or operatives.

Many others have been accused of passing information to Russia, including a security guard at the British embassy in Berlin, sentenced to 13 years in prison, and more than a dozen people arrested in Poland accused of carrying out various tasks for Russian intelligence.

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