In the wake of the Ukraine war, Europe has expelled hundreds of Russian diplomats. NATO member Germany believes this has hampered Russia’s espionage activities, forcing them to resort to blackmail and cyberattacks. Recently, NATO General Jens Stoltenberg announced that the alliance will take tougher action against Russian spies in response to Putin’s “hostile activities.”
Watch the above video as Straight Arrow News contributor Peter Zeihan argues that Russia’s espionage strategy — effective during the Soviet and post-Soviet eras — no longer works, and how the expulsion of Russian diplomats from Europe has rendered traditional Russian spy tactics ineffective.
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The following is an excerpt from Peter’s June 20 “Zeihan on Geopolitics” newsletter:
If you ask a fifth grader what the key to being a good spy is, they would likely respond with some variation of being sneaky or concealing your identity. Well, on today’s episode of “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader,” we’re placing Russian spies in the hot seat.
Since the start of the Ukraine war, Russian spies throughout Europe have been disappointing those fifth graders’ expectations. With most European nations collectively deciding to share information and expel Russian spies from their embassies, Russian intelligence operations in the West have been experiencing quite the disruption.
In places like Germany, the Russians are replacing their spies with bribes and payments to individuals for information. Obviously this isn’t a great strategy, but a little info is better than none. As for those spies who had their identities revealed, they’ll still be of use to Russian intelligence… just on domestic assignments from now on.