Swedish Security Service disrupts Russian spy operation

Sweden’s Security Service has stopped an ongoing Russian intelligence operation and exposed a secret agent at another country’s embassy in Stockholm, broadcaster SVT reported.

The operation involved a secret meeting at a pub in the Stockholm area between a Russian intelligence officer and a man from a foreign embassy in Sweden. The embassy employee had a bag containing a gift he had just received from the Russian officer.

The Security Service had followed the men and monitored the meeting from a nearby table.

“The meeting was preceded by extensive clandestine measures. They simply did not want to be discovered,” Christoffer Wedelin, deputy head of operations at the Security Service, told SVT.

Agent recruited at embassy

The Russian intelligence operation had been under way for an extended period. According to the Security Service’s investigation, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, known as the SVR, recruited an agent from another foreign embassy in Sweden through two intelligence officers.

“We have a very clear picture of what type of information was handed over and what kind of assignments the agent received. We can also see that gifts were handed over from the Russian intelligence officer to the agent,” Wedelin said.

According to the Security Service, the aim was to influence Swedish political decisions and discredit Sweden, the European Union and Nato. The Russian intelligence service used the agent as an intermediary to obtain important information.

“We have been able to follow this in detail for an extended period. That means we now have a deeper understanding of how the Russian intelligence services operate in Sweden,” Wedelin said.

He did not provide further details about which Swedish people or institutions the agent had targeted, saying only that the operation concerned central political decision making.

Those involved have left Sweden

The two Russian intelligence officers and the agent have left Sweden. No preliminary investigation is under way against any of them.

“They operated in Sweden under diplomatic immunity. That makes it impossible to conduct a preliminary investigation with the aim of prosecuting them,” Wedelin said.