SVT traces Russian spy meetings to Stockholm church and pub

Secret meetings between an agent and his Russian handlers took place at a church in Stockholm and a pub in the suburb of Sundbyberg, SVT reports.

The meetings were allegedly used to plan an intelligence operation against Sweden. The Swedish Security Service has said it stopped the operation and exposed a secret agent at another country’s embassy in Stockholm.

One surveillance photograph shows the agent walking with a Russian intelligence officer outside Sofia Church, a church on Stockholm’s Södermalm district. An employee who has worked at the church for more than 20 years recognised its facade immediately.

A second photograph was taken at a pub in Sundbyberg. It shows the agent sitting at a table with another Russian intelligence officer, each with a glass of beer and chicken wings.

Pub owner Sohail Akther told SVT that he recognised the men and that they had visited several times. “They used to order beer and Wiener schnitzel,” he said.

Akther believes he last saw them about two months ago. A logo visible on the pub’s entrance was installed after April 2021, establishing that the photograph was taken sometime after then.

The Security Service has said the Russian intelligence operation had been under way for “a longer period”. Its spokesperson Jonathan Svensson said the agency could not provide details about the people involved or when, where and how they had met. None of those involved is still in Sweden, he said.