The Kremlin took advantage of the mass flight of opposition-minded citizens from Russia to send professional spies, saboteurs and hired killers to European countries under this cover. About this writes The Wall Street Journal, analyzing the circumstances of the murder in Spain of Russian defector pilot Maksym Kuzminov.
The newspaper notes that Kuzminov, who was shot dead in the town of Villahoyos on February 13 this year, is just one of many Russians who were killed or died suddenly, who in one way or another offended Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
It is noteworthy that Moscow does not even try to create the appearance that it has nothing to do with the murder of its former pilot.
"This traitor and criminal became a moral corpse at the very moment when he was planning his dirty and terrible crime." said the head of Russia's foreign intelligence Serhiy Naryshkin.
After the invasion of Ukraine, famous Russians died under unusual circumstances on three continents. Wikipedia even has a separate article, "Suspicious Deaths of Russian Businessmen (2022-2024)," which lists 51 names. WSJ writes that at least some of them fell victim to Russian agents scattered around the world, in particular, during the latest wave of anti-war emigration.
According to European officials, the Kremlin deliberately left Russia's borders open, allowing hundreds of thousands of Russians to flee mobilization and repression to Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus. After all, together with these "refugees", new Russian agents penetrated into Europe - to replace those "diplomats" who were expelled en masse from Europe in the last two years.
Western intelligence officials say that Russian agents are becoming increasingly brazen and creative in suppressing dissent abroad. They are also increasingly using foreign nationals in operations, entrusting them with espionage missions.
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