Russia‘s intelligence services have intensified efforts to recruit Ukrainian citizens for illegal activities across European Union countries, according to Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR).
In a statement shared on Telegram, the agency said: “Potential perpetrators are offered monetary rewards for participating in illegal activities, monitoring critical infrastructure, and carrying out other assignments in the interests of the aggressor state.”
HUR officials said that the targets of these recruitment efforts are primarily Ukrainians from Russian-occupied territories who now face difficult living conditions abroad.
“Recruiting Ukrainians to execute hostile operations in Europe is another tool of the hybrid warfare campaign that the Russian Federation is waging against Ukraine and the broader European community,” the report added.
Ukraine’s intelligence services have urged all Ukrainians abroad to immediately report any contact from suspicious individuals to local law enforcement or Ukrainian diplomatic missions.
Earlier, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) warned that Russian intelligence has adopted a new tactic - using operatives, often teenagers, “in the dark” and then disposing of them to eliminate potential witnesses.
The SBU cautioned that if someone is asked to “just deliver a package” to a military enlistment office, police station, or any administrative building, it may be a trap that will not only hit a target but get the individual killed in the process.