Espionage in the age of outsourcing: Russia has shifted from elite intelligence officers to freelance agents

Russian intelligence services have radically changed their tactics for conducting sabotage and intelligence operations in Europe, shifting from the use of career intelligence officers to the mass recruitment of freelance operatives through messaging apps, according to a study by King’s College London and the Swedish Defence University. Source: Asia Times 

The “gig economy” model of espionage gained momentum after more than 700 Russian intelligence officers operating under diplomatic cover were expelled from European countries, forcing Moscow to make up for the loss of quality with the sheer number and low cost of its recruited one-off agents.

According to experts, Russian handlers recruit marginalized people, criminals, or radicals through messaging apps and pay them in cryptocurrency to carry out minor acts of sabotage, arson, beatings, or attacks on infrastructure. These operatives often do not even realize which intelligence service they are working for. Examples include arson attacks on warehouses holding humanitarian aid for Ukraine in London, industrial facilities in Poland, and shops in Lithuania, as well as recent incidents involving parcels catching fire at DHL cargo terminals and a kamikaze drone crashing into a cargo plane at Leipzig Airport.

Although many such operations fail because the operatives are poorly trained or are foiled by Western intelligence services, this model remains highly effective for the Kremlin. It allows it to generate a steady stream of media panic, overwhelm European counterintelligence agencies, and create an atmosphere of constant threat at minimal financial cost and without any direct legal connection to official Moscow.

Experts warn that the reliance on “disposable” agents is rapidly eroding the line between peace and war in Europe.

As a reminder, the GRU is shifting its operations in Europe from espionage to psychological operations.