Category Archives: Espionage

Ukraine spy chief’s wife recovering after being poisoned

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Poisoning of Kyrylo Budanov’s wife, Marianna Budanova, suggests Moscow has undercover assets in Ukraine

The wife of Ukraine’s top spy chief is recovering in hospital after being poisoned, a spokesperson for the country’s military intelligence agency said on Tuesday, after apparently eating food laced with “heavy metals”.

Marianna Budanova is the wife of Kyrylo Budanov, who heads Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency. It is unclear when the alleged poisoning happened. She complained of feeling unwell and was admitted to hospital for tests.

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North Korea to restore ‘all military measures’ on South Korea border

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As Seoul claims Russia helped Pyongyang carry out spy satellite launch, North Korea warns of stronger armed forces on border

North Korea has warned it will deploy new weapons and stronger armed forces along its heavily armed border with South Korea, as officials in Seoul claimed that Russia had helped Pyongyang carry out a satellite launch.

In a sign of rising tensions on the peninsula, North Korea said on Tuesday it would restore “all military measures” it had halted under a 2018 confidence-building agreement with South Korea.

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Canada-China detention feud reopened after claims of ‘unwitting’ espionage

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Freed detainee Michael Spavor says he unknowingly passed intelligence to Michael Kovrig, who then told Canadian officials

A simmering diplomatic feud prompted by China’s detention of two Canadian citizens has been reopened after one of the men claimed he was arrested for unknowingly passing on intelligence to Canada and its allies.

The Globe and Mail reported Michael Spavor is seeking a multi-million dollar settlement from Canada’s federal government, alleging he “unwittingly” provided intelligence on North Korea to fellow Canadian Michael Kovrig, who then shared that information with Canada and Five Eyes allies.

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Rise in asylum seekers from Russia is Kremlin act of revenge, says Finnish president

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Sauli Niinistö says this is Russia’s response to Finland’s cooperation with US and vows to take ‘very clear action’

The Finnish president has vowed to take “very clear action” over the growing number of asylum seekers arriving from Russia, which he said appeared to be a Kremlin act of revenge for Finland’s cooperation with the US.

Sauli Niinistö’s comments come after the Finnish border guard reported steadily increasing numbers of asylum seekers arriving at border crossing points in south-east Finland in recent days.

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Ex-Danish defence minister and spy chief ‘relieved’ after charges dropped

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The former senior figures had been accused of leaking state secrets about intelligence partnership with the US

Denmark’s former defence minister and ex-spy chief have spoken of their relief after prosecutors dramatically dropped criminal charges accusing them of leaking state secrets.

Prosecutors said this week they would withdraw the cases after Denmark’s highest court made a series of rulings preventing the prosecution from holding the trials in secret.

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Cold war satellite images reveal hundreds of unknown Roman forts

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Declassified spy images point to 396 undiscovered forts in Syria and Iraq, shifting understanding of Roman frontier

Declassified cold-war spy satellite images have thrown new light on the workings of the Roman empire by revealing hundreds of previously undiscovered forts, with dramatic implications for our understanding, experts have said.

Archeologists examining aerial photographs taken in the 1960s and 70s said they reveal 396 sites of unknown Roman forts in Syria and Iraq across the Syrian steppe.

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US charges ex-intelligence officer with trying to give defence secrets to China

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FBI alleges former sergeant Joseph Daniel Schmidt tried to set up a meeting with Chinese consulate in Turkey

A former US army intelligence officer has been charged with attempting to provide classified defence information to the Chinese security services during the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic – including some listed in a Microsoft Word document titled “Important Information to Share with Chinese Government”.

Authorities on Friday arrested former sergeant Joseph Daniel Schmidt, 29, at San Francisco international airport as he arrived from Hong Kong, where he had been living since March 2020, the Justice Department said. A federal grand jury in Seattle returned an indictment on Wednesday charging him with retention and attempted delivery of national defence information.

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UK espionage saga a ‘wake-up call’ for Australian parliament, opposition says

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Calls for further security measures including vetting of staffers after UK parliamentary aide arrested on suspicion of spying for China

An espionage scandal in the UK should serve as a “major wake-up call” for Australia, a senior opposition member has said.

Australia’s shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, called on both countries to “harden” their political systems to reduce the risk of alleged compromise, including wider use of vetting of staff members.

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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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