The Säkerhetspolis, Swedish Security Service (SÄPO) reported that Russia is implementing a new sabotage tactic. Russian intelligence is looking for potential recruits with drug addictions to carry out sabotage attacks in Sweden, with police being urged to step up surveillance as a result.
Drug addicts are said to be singled out because of their low social status and resulting effective invisibility, a quality prized in spy agents. SÄPO issued a press release as Russia seeks to promote its covert espionage activities: “Foreign powers are using security risk and hybrid activities to destabilize Sweden and Europe. This includes illegal intelligence activities, influence, cyber attacks, theft of technology and knowledge, mapping and threats against opponents. The Security Services also detect an increasing risk appetite from Russia, with threats of sabotage also in Sweden”.
SÄPO has previously reported that Iran uses criminal networks in Sweden to carry out various types of violent acts. Moscow’s use of drug addicts as tools for espionage demonstrates its increased focus on “hybrid warfare” tactics, the incorporation of a “range of different modes of warfare” against Europe.
Sweden joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on 7 March 2024.. Swedish and Finnish public opinion was firmly against to join NATO before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. After the Russian invasion, support for NATO membership subsequently increased. In 2023, a year before Sweden joined NATO, SÄPO warned that Russia was stepping up its intelligence activities against Sweden and could use both sabotage and violent extremists to destabilize the country.
On January 10, 2023, during the national conference People and defense ("People and Defense") in Sälen, SÄPO Director Charlotte von Essen told attendees that Russian intelligence activities, as well as other activities threatening security, would increase, with Russia resorting to disinformation, cyber attacks, sabotage and violent extremists. Von Essen noted that Sweden's candidacy for NATO was a motivating factor for Russia. This in turn led to Russia considering Sweden as part of the defense alliance even before it officially joined, and thus, this meant that Sweden became a valid target of Russian hybrid warfare.
Russia's espionage efforts against Sweden have a long history that goes beyond the pursuit of drug addicts. Von Essen warned that Russian intelligence had apparently infiltrated even SÄPO. In 2021, Peyman Kia, one of two Iranian-born brothers accused of spying for Russia, had held positions at both SÄPO and the Militära underrättelse- och säkerhetstjänsten (Military Intelligence and Security Service, MUST). The crimes the brothers are suspected of having been committed between 2011 and 2021. Peyman Kia and his brother Kayyam were arrested on charges of aggravated espionage by SÄPO in September 2021. At the time of his arrest, Peyman was a high-ranking security officer at the Swedish National Food Agency and had previously worked at SÄPO and MUST. While at MUST, Kia had worked within the most secret intelligence organization in Sweden, Kontoret för särskild inhämtning (Special Collection Office, KSI). His brother Kayyam was arrested in November 2021. On 19 January 2023, the Kia brothers were convicted of sharing top-secret intelligence from the Security Service and the Armed Forces with Russia. Peyman was sentenced to life imprisonment and Kayyam to nine years and ten months..
Russia's hybrid warfare tactics regularly rely on the use of "expendable" agents, individuals used for single missions. These agents are recruited and given instructions primarily through social media. They are then used to conduct a series of sabotage and influence operations in Europe on behalf of Russia. The subsequent fate of these agents is of little interest to Moscow, since their individual missions prevent them from knowing the specific breadth and depth of Russian intelligence efforts.
Russian intelligence agents in Sweden operate in several Russian institutions. SÄPO estimates that about 30% of the staff at the Russian embassy at Gjörwellsgatan 31 in Stockholm are intelligence agents, whose duties include recruiting and managing agents. In addition, SÄPO has determined that the Russian Orthodox Church in Sweden is a second “legitimate” asset used by Moscow to conduct intelligence gathering, influence, or other security-risking activities.
Sweden’s security challenges with Russia are part of a broader NATO defense issue. Poland and the Baltic states have reported similar cases to Sweden’s, where adversaries engage in security-threatening activities and hybrid warfare. These include illegal intelligence, influence, cyberattacks, theft of technology and knowledge, mapping, and threats against adversaries.
SÄPO continues to monitor Russian espionage activities in Sweden, noting in its annual intelligence report: “Sweden’s accession to NATO makes us more secure, but it could also mean a changed and strengthened intelligence interest, especially on the part of Russia. … Russia remains the main threat to Sweden. Russian security-threatening activities conducted against Sweden risk jeopardizing several protection values that have an impact on national security, not least those related to Sweden’s territorial integrity and political sovereignty. Developments since the Russian invasion of Ukraine also show a more risk-averse Russia that, in its actions, accepts risks to life and health to a greater extent. An important part of Russian security-threatening activities against the West consists of hybrid activities aimed at destabilizing, misleading, creating disruption and shifting attention.”.
Sweden's accession to NATO has brought about a major shift in power in the Baltic region. The country has abandoned its 212-year policy of neutrality, which has existed since the Napoleonic Wars devastated Europe, effectively turning the Baltic Sea into a NATO lake. Sweden takes its responsibilities within the alliance seriously and marked the first anniversary of its NATO membership by deploying JAS 39 fighter jets. Gripen in Poland as a contribution to the mission of Enhanced Air Policing of NATO.
Now unable to directly engage Sweden on the battlefield, Moscow appears to be pursuing a termite-like “hybrid warfare” of intelligence and sabotage to confront the new NATO member, exploiting the country’s most socially vulnerable individuals. Despite SÄPO’s successes so far, future challenges to counter Russian espionage operations remain and will undoubtedly intensify.
