Germany’s “Bild” has published excerpts from a new book by Boris Reitschuster entitled “Putin’s Secret War” that suggests that Moscow is organizing special military units inside Germany and other Western countries that the Kremlin could use to destabilize these states in the event of a crisis.
Boris Reitschuster (Image: Igor Gavrilov / mainpost.de)
Although Reitschuster’s claims are disputed, one indication that they likely deserve to be taken seriously is that when his materials appeared in “Bild” on Monday, hackers immediately took down his email account.
Putins Verdeckter Krieg (Putin’s Secret War) by Boris Reitschuster
According to Reitschuster, the units which have a membership of 300 in Germany alone are organized as sports clubs but are led by Russian GRU intelligence and military officers according to an order given by Vladimir Putin to create such diversionary groups in Germany and other countries of Europe.
Reitschuster says that this organization, known as “the System,” is a potentially important resource for Putin “in his secret war against the West.” Members of these units have exercises in the Swiss Alps and the Czech Republic and often go to Russia for advanced training.
According to the German publication, members of “the System” are “active in the ranks of right extremist sects, the right-wing radical movement European Patriots Against the Islamization of the West (Pegida), and in disinformation campaigns among Germans from Russia.”
Related:
- Book details Kremlin’s influence networks in France
- Moscow creating ‘new Comintern’ spy network in Europe, Prague says
- France, Germany now openly collaborating with Russia
- Will France follow its advice to Ukraine?
- Putin, in reaching out to the far right in Europe, has not forgotten the left
- French writer comments on France’s newest “useful idiot”
- Moscow now emphasizing subversion over direct aggression in Ukraine, Kyiv analyst says
- Fancy a frack? How the UK Greens got into bed with Putin
- Russian hybrid warfare: what are effects-based network operations and how to counteract them
Tags: International, Putin, Russia, Russian spy network, the West
