A new investigation by the Belarusian opposition group BelPol has identified more than 100 career officers of Belarus's KGB and military intelligence (GRU) operating under diplomatic cover in roughly 40 countries, according to a summary published by Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service (SZRU).
Many of the same agents also carry out tasking for Russian intelligence, effectively turning Belarusian embassies into branches of the Kremlin's foreign-intelligence service, per the report.
KGB secretaries and GRU defense attachés
The operations are run by two agencies: the KGB's foreign-intelligence directorate and the General Staff's GRU. BelPol identifies three categories of personnel: intelligence and recruitment officers, diplomatic couriers carrying documents and equipment, and cipher officers.
KGB officers most often hold posts as first or second secretaries at embassies or as advisors. GRU officers concentrate in defense attaché and assistant military attaché slots, though they also use civilian cover.
The GRU has been "bolder" than the KGB lately and has been involved in political repression for more than 15 years, BelPol writes.
Semi-legal agents — and their wives
A distinct category is the so-called "semi-legal" agents officially responsible for embassy security.
They have open contacts with the host country's law-enforcement bodies, a cover that allows them to operate almost openly.
The investigation also documents the use of the wives of Belarusian "diplomats" for surveillance, intelligence collection on specific individuals, and counter-surveillance during operations.
Largest network is inside Russia
Minsk's priority regions are Europe, especially neighboring states, the US, and Asia, BelPol notes. But the single largest overseas Belarusian spy network is the one inside Russia itself, covering Moscow plus every city with a Belarusian consulate or embassy section.
The findings land alongside an active European counter-effort: in September 2025, Czech, Hungarian, and Romanian agencies broke up a Belarusian KGB network operating across the continent, expelling a Belarusian "diplomat" from Prague and arresting a former deputy head of Moldova's intelligence service for treason, CNN reported.
Inside Ukraine, the Security Service has been rolling up Belarusian KGB activity for years. In January 2026, it arrested a Belarusian woman in Kyiv on suspicion of spying for the KGB since 2015, as Euromaidan Press covered at the time.
