According to reports from British sources, Russia is said to be hiring right-wing extremists to carry out attacks in the West. The target: NATO countries and infrastructure facilities.
According to information from the British “Telegraph”, the Russian military intelligence service GRU is recruiting right-wing extremists to carry out attacks in NATO countries. It is suspected that in the past six months a series of attacks in Western Europe and the USA were carried out by these terrorists recruited by the GRU. The Telegraph refers to information from intelligence sources.
The recruitment is carried out by undercover officers from the GRU and members of the Wagner mercenary group. The background is apparently the expulsion of Colonel Maxim Elovik, the Russian defense attaché in Great Britain, who is suspected to be a GRU agent. “The GRU is building a network of right-wing extremists to be used against NATO targets,” The Telegraph quoted an intelligence source as saying. Attacks have already taken place in various NATO countries, including probably the USA and Germany.
This development is also confirmed by Thomas Haldenwang, head of the German Office for the Protection of the Constitution, who spoke at a security conference last month of a significantly increased risk of state-controlled acts of sabotage by Russia.
Russia, like Iran, is believed to rely on organized crime gangs to carry out proxy terrorist attacks. According to Mark Galeotti, director of the London think tank Mayak Intelligence, these sabotage actions could be seen as a kind of retaliation for Ukraine’s increased attacks on Russian soil.
The British government has announced that it will defend itself against threats from Russia and work closely with its allies. This also includes sanctions against leading members of the LockBit cybercrime group.