Category Archives: Espionage

Swedish man charged with passing hi-tech equipment to Russia

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Russian-born man in his 60s suspected of transferring Swedish and US technology with potential military use

A man in his 60s whose arrest in a residential area near Stockholm last year prompted shock has been charged with gross illegal intelligence activities against Sweden and gross illegal intelligence activities against a foreign power.

The man, who has lived in Sweden for 25 years after emigrating from Russia and has had Swedish citizenship since 2012, is suspected of having transferred advanced technology with potential military use to Russia.

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Retired Canada police officer charged with foreign interference for China

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William Majcher arrested and facing two charges under the Security of Information Act

A retired police officer in Canada has been arrested and is facing rare charges under the country’s national security laws, police said on Friday.

William Majcher, 60, “allegedly used his knowledge and his extensive network of contacts in Canada to obtain intelligence or services to benefit the People’s Republic of China”, the Royal Canadian Mounted police said in a news release.

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‘Not in the spirit of our friendship’: Penny Wong concedes past Australian wrongs in Timor-Leste

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Foreign minister says previous governments have treated the country in ‘disappointing’ ways during visit to Dili

The Australian foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has attempted to improve Australia’s ties with Timor-Leste by conceding that “disappointing” actions by past governments were “not in the spirit of our friendship”.

Wong did not mention the scandal surrounding Australia’s bugging of the nation’s cabinet room in 2004, but acknowledged Timor-Leste’s sovereign right to make its own choices “without having them encroached by others”.

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China reportedly reaches secret deal with Cuba to host spy base on island

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Facility would allow Beijing to gather electronic communications from US but Cuba dismisses report as ‘unfounded’

China has reached a secret deal with Cuba to establish an electronic eavesdropping facility on the island roughly 100 miles (160km) from Florida, the Wall Street Journal has reported, but the US and Cuban governments cast strong doubt on the report.

Such a spy installation would allow Beijing to gather electronic communications from the south-eastern United States, which houses many US military bases, as well as to monitor ship traffic, the newspaper reported.

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Erin O’Toole: China targeted me in election, says 2021 rival to Canada’s Trudeau

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Ex-leader of Conservatives says Canadian Security Intelligence briefed him on a ‘Chinese-orchestrated campaign’ to manipulate the vote

Canada’s spy agency told former Conservative party leader Erin O’Toole that China campaigned to discredit him and suppress votes ahead of the 2021 election he lost to Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, O’Toole has said.

In a briefing on Friday, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (Csis) informed O’Toole about intelligence saying Beijing had targeted him in 2021, when he was Conservative leader and running to defeat Trudeau.

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GCHQ warns of fresh threat from Chinese state-sponsored hackers

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National Cyber Security Centre urges operators of critical national infrastructure to prevent hacks

The UK’s cybersecurity agency has urged operators of critical national infrastructure, including energy and telecommunications networks, to prevent Chinese state-sponsored hackers from hiding on their systems.

The National Cyber Security Centre, part of GCHQ, issued the warning after it emerged that a Chinese hacking group known as Volt Typhoon had targeted a US military outpost in the Pacific Ocean.

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Germany’s would-be spies seek licence to work from home

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BND intelligence service is finding expectations of flexible working and taking a mobile to the office are affecting recruitment

James Bond was famously given the licence to kill by MI6, as part of his role as a British secret agent.

Today’s wannabe spies are more likely to ask for something else: permission to work from home – a cultural shift that has hit recruitment figures for Germany’s intelligence service.

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Former employee of US consulate charged by Russia with espionage

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Robert Shonov was reportedly detained in Vladivostok, site of his former employment, and is being held in Moscow

Russia’s FSB security service has charged a former employee of the US consulate in the far eastern city of Vladivostok with illegal covert collaboration with foreigners.

The state news agency Tass reported on Monday that Robert Shonov had been detained in Vladivostok and that “after interrogation, he was charged with committing a crime under Article 275.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (‘Cooperation on a confidential basis with a foreign state, international or foreign organization’)”, punishable by up to eight years’ jail time.

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Canadian lawmaker says China targeted his family for harassment

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Michael Chong accused Trudeau’s government of turning blind eye while Chinese diplomat gathered information in Canada

A Canadian lawmaker has accused government officials of turning a blind eye to Chinese harassment of his family as pressure mounts on Justin Trudeau to launch a public inquiry into Beijing’s attempts to meddle in the country’s domestic politics.

The Globe and Mail reported that China’s intelligence agency had sought information about Michael Chong’s family in Hong Kong “for further potential sanctions” over the Conservative MP’s criticism of Beijing’s human rights abuses. The paper also reported that Zhao Wei, a Chinese diplomat in Toronto, was part of the harassment campaign.

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China widens ‘already breathtaking’ scope to arrest foreigners for espionage

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Authorities can swoop over anything they deem relevant to national security in toughening of law already used against expatriates or Chinese contacts

China has drastically broadened its anti-espionage laws in amendments that legal experts warn could further heighten risk to foreign individuals and organisations operating in the country.

The amendments were passed by Beijing’s rubber-stamp parliament on Wednesday afternoon. The long-foreshadowed changes broaden the law’s scope to encompass anything deemed by authorities to cover national security, and expand the search and seizure powers of authorities, as well as the implementation of entry and exit bans on individuals.

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Russian spy network operating in North Sea, investigation claims

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Moscow using spy ships disguised as fishing vessels to monitor potential sabotage targets, say broadcasters

A joint investigation by the public broadcasters of several Nordic countries alleges that Russia has established a state-run programme using spy ships disguised as fishing vessels aimed at giving it the capability to attack windfarms and communications cables in the North Sea.

The investigation quotes a Danish counter-intelligence officer who claims the sabotage strategy is designed to be implemented in the event that Russia and the west enter a full-blown conflict.

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Russian hackers want to ‘disrupt or destroy’ UK infrastructure, minister warns

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Cabinet Office secretary, Oliver Dowden, to issue national alert and urge companies to boost cybersecurity

Russian hackers organised along the lines of the paramilitary Wagner group are seeking “to disrupt or destroy” parts of the UK’s critical national infrastructure, a cabinet minister will warn at a cyber conference in Belfast on Wednesday.

Oliver Dowden, the Cabinet Office minister, will issue a national alert to key businesses amid growing international concern that as Russia struggles in Ukraine, an under-pressure Kremlin is searching for new ways to threaten the west.

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FBI arrests two New Yorkers accused of running covert Chinese police station

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The station, in New York’s Chinatown, was allegedly run by Beijing’s ministry of public security to track Chinese dissidents

The FBI has arrested two men accused of running a covert station for China’s police force in New York, and using it as a base to track Chinese dissidents living in the US.

The station, in Manhattan’s Chinatown, was allegedly set up in February 2022 and operated by Beijing’s ministry of public security (MPS) as part of a campaign of transnational repression against Chinese pro-democracy activists and other political opponents around the world.

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US officials knew of more Chinese spy balloons, according to Pentagon leaks

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Documents allegedly leaked by Jack Teixeira show US knew of at least four balloons beyond one shot down in February

US officials were aware of up to four Chinese surveillance balloons, beyond one that flew over the continental US and was shot down in February, according to leaked top intelligence. One balloon flew over a US carrier strike group located in the Pacific Ocean, in an incident that was never reported.

The information comes from documents that were allegedly leaked by Massachusetts air national guard member Jack Teixeira that were first reported by the Washington Post.

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Man suspected of being Stakeknife, Britain’s top spy in IRA, dies

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Death of Freddie Scappaticci, who always denied he was mole, puts question mark over inquiry into his alleged crimes

The man said to be the British army’s most important agent inside the Provisional IRA has died, putting a question mark over the inquiry into his alleged crimes and the role played by security forces.

Freddie Scappaticci, a west Belfast former bricklayer who was alleged to have been a top mole known as Stakeknife, died and was buried last week, it emerged on Tuesday. He was in his 70s.

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Pentagon leaks: US seeks to mend ties after claims Washington spied on key allies

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Defence secretary speaks to South Korean counterpart after leak suggesting US was spying on Seoul’s internal discussions on arms sales

The US is attempting to mend fences with key allies after leaked Pentagon documents claimed Washington had been spying on friendly countries including South Korea and Israel.

The US secretary of defence, Lloyd Austin, spoke to his South Korean counterpart on Tuesday as officials in Seoul denied the possibility that the president’s office could have been the source of leaks over South Korean arms sales to the US.

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Pentagon investigates reported leak of top-secret Ukraine documents

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Classified papers said to contain details of military aid and battalion strengths before potential Ukrainian counteroffensive

The Pentagon is investigating a security breach in which classified war documents detailing secret American and Nato plans for supplying aid to Ukraine before its prospective offensive against Russia were leaked to social media platforms.

The top secret documents were spread on Twitter and Telegram, and reportedly contain charts and details about anticipated weapons deliveries, battalion strengths and other sensitive information, the New York Times reported. According to military analysts, the papers appear to have been altered in certain parts from their original format, overstating American estimates of Ukrainian war dead and understating estimates of Russian troops killed, citing how the modifications could point to an effort of disinformation by Moscow.

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Panic and emotional pain as alleged deep-cover Russian spies vanish

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Pair of suspected ‘illegals’ are thought to have been a married couple living separate lives in Brazil and Greece

Halfway through a trip to Malaysia in January, Gerhard Daniel Campos Wittich stopped messaging his girlfriend back home in Rio de Janeiro and she promptly launched a frantic search for her missing partner.

A Brazilian of Austrian heritage, Campos Wittich ran a series of 3D printing companies in Rio that made, among other things, novelty resin sculptures for the Brazilian military and sausage dog key chains.

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US indicts alleged Russian spy who tried to infiltrate ICC in The Hague

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Sergey Cherkasov studied in US under false identity and is accused of working for Russian intelligence

US authorities have released new details about an alleged Russian spy who attempted to penetrate the international criminal court in The Hague, using a false identity developed over a decade.

An indictment made public on Saturday accuses Sergey Cherkasov, who US intelligence believes is an elite “illegal” operative of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency. Cherkasov posed as Brazilian citizen Victor Muller Ferreira over many years.

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John Bolton chose not to brief Trump on Russia Havana syndrome suspicion

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Former national security adviser tells podcast ‘we didn’t feel we would get support’ from president during Russia investigation

Donald Trump’s third national security adviser, John Bolton, did not brief the president on suspicions Russia might be behind mysterious “Havana syndrome” attacks on US diplomats because he did not think Trump would support him.

“Since our concern was that one of the perpetrators – maybe the perpetrator – was Russia,” Bolton said, “we didn’t feel we would get support from President Trump if we said, ‘We think the Russians are coming after American personnel.’”

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