Sweden says it caught and stopped a Russian spy operation. Säpo Security Service has exposed the intelligence operation aimed at discrediting the country, Sweden Herald reported.
The operation is one strand of Russia's hybrid campaign against Europe. Since the full-scale war in Ukraine, Russia has run espionage, sabotage, and influence operations across European states, from undersea cable damage in the Baltic to disinformation. The Swedish case is one such effort, aimed at undermining Swedish decision-making and discrediting Sweden and the EU.
The agent worked from a diplomatic mission
For the operation, Russian intelligence recruited its source inside a foreign embassy. The agent, recruited at a foreign diplomatic mission in Sweden, gathered information on the decision-making processes of Sweden's central government bodies and the kingdom's relations with other countries.
The goal was influence, not just information. The operation was meant to give Russian intelligence the ability to influence contentious issues, undermine Swedish decision-making, and discredit Sweden and the EU. It is the classic shape of a Russian influence operation: acquire inside knowledge of how a target state decides, then use it to steer or discredit those decisions.
Säpo watched it for a long time
The service said it tracked the operation before shutting it down. Säpo long monitored and documented the operation, recording meetings at which the agent passed information to two officers of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR). It knew the tasks the agent was given and the questions he put to his handlers, Christoffer Wedelin, a deputy operations chief, said.
Säpo said it acted to contain the damage.
"Our assessment is that we have prevented the Russian intelligence operation. They have not succeeded in their mission," Wedelin said.
No one can be prosecuted
The case ends without arrests. The agent and the two Russian officers have left Sweden, and because all three hold diplomatic immunity, they cannot be arrested or prosecuted.
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