Russia Deployed Network of Secret Agents in Ukraine Before Invasion: Report

Russian special services recruited a "large agent network" in Ukraine ahead of Moscow's invasion, which Russia continues to benefit from, according to a new report.

This network is still "viable" more than a year after the start of the invasion, "providing a steady stream of human intelligence to Russian forces," a new analysis from the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank said.

Ukrainian officials have focused on identifying citizens who work with Russian forces. In April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that any Ukrainian wishing to support or work for the Russian government should register to live in Rostov-on-Don, a city in southern Russia.

Vladimir Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with the government via a video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow on March 29, 2023. A "large agent network" set up by Russia has been... GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images

Newsweek reached out to the Russian foreign ministry and the Ukrainian defense ministry for comment via email.

"Anyone can be a Russian collaborator or traitor—age, gender, or background doesn't matter," one Ukrainian officer told Foreign Policy in January 2023. Thousands of people accused of being collaborators with Russia have been detained since the start of the war.

The eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, collectively making up the Donbas, were plunged into fighting in 2014 between the Kyiv government and Russian-backed separatists. This "internal threat" limited Ukraine's ability to prepare the country for war in 2022, the RUSI report released on Wednesday said.

Russian forces have been able to "corrupt targets" and recruit under false flag operations to build these "large networks quickly," according to the report. Under false flag operations, Ukrainians may think they are working on Kyiv's behalf, with their actions ultimately benefiting Moscow.

Those who infiltrated the Ukrainian political or economic elites could then "recruit people not as Russian agents but as their personal clients who therefore unwittingly advance Russian interests," according to the report, which added that many agents working for Russia had been in place for decades.

The FSB, Russia's intelligence agency, was likely ordered to prepare plans for an occupied Ukraine in the summer of 2021, the RUSI report said. Moscow has looked to place senior agents in Ukraine to head up their own networks, rather than handling operations from Russia.

Although some of those working on the Kremlin's behalf have been identified, many, and their operations, have not yet been exposed, the report's authors warned.

"A significant part of Russia's agents both in Ukraine and in other countries continue to actively operate," they wrote.

However, Russia has so far not prompted the "internal political crisis" the "powerful agents in state authorities" in Ukraine were working towards, the report said.

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About the writer


Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more

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