Switzerland is a battleground for spies, that’s why
Competition between great powers has made Switzerland into a veritable battleground for espionage. What the Swiss intelligence report says
Intensified competition between the superpowers has turned Switzerland into an espionage battleground (as it did during the Cold War) with more foreign spies active in Switzerland than in most other European countries, according to the report. of the Federal Intelligence Service (FIS), which notes that Russian agents are particularly active in the Swiss country.
Many Russian intelligence officers have relocated after being expelled from a number of European countries over the past 18 months, according to the report.
WHAT RUSSIA DOES IN SWITZERLAND
Traditionally neutral Switzerland has not joined most other European countries in expelling Russian intelligence officers – posing as diplomats – following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Thus, while the Russia seeks to rebuild its intelligence gathering networks in Europe, is using Switzerland as a base of operations according to FIS. As of 2023, the number of Russian intelligence personnel present on Swiss soil and the resulting espionage activity "is remarkably high," the report said.
According to the FIS report, the majority of Russian intelligence officers – "several dozen" – are present in Russian diplomatic and consular missions in Geneva," which is an "ideal operating environment" for foreign intelligence agencies. It hosts a significant number of international organizations, including one of the four main offices of the United Nations. Furthermore, it is situated close to the largely unmonitored French border. This allows intelligence operators to move seamlessly in and out of European Union soil.
THE RISE OF Espionage
Furthermore, as Western intelligence agencies increase their presence in Switzerland, in order to counter Russian intelligence activities in Switzerland, “levels of espionage […] are continuously increasing,” according to the FIS report. This situation is unlikely to change in the coming year, as "intensified competition between the superpowers" is expected to continue to engulf Switzerland as an espionage battleground that attracts rival intelligence agencies, the report concludes.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/svizzera-spionaggio-russia/ on Thu, 29 Jun 2023 05:22:27 +0000.