Czech Security Reports Sharp Increase In Number Of Russian Spies

On October 27, the Czech Republic’s Security Information Service (BIS) reported a sharp increase in Russian spies working in the country.

According to The Telegraph, BIS said Russia had an “extremely high” number of intelligence personnel working at its Czech embassy last year. The BIS indicated the “intelligence officers were working undercover as diplomats” and that such officers were “complimented” by others coming into the country disguised “as tourists, experts, academics, and entrepreneurs.”

BIS added: “The Cold War and the Soviet Union may have passed, but [the] same is not true for Russia’s passion to try to gain influence and taking active measures to (such as the use of agents) to achieve this.” 

The BIS report comes two weeks after Poland arrested two persons–“one of them a high-ranking army officer”–thought to be working for Russia. BBC News reported the arrests followed “months of investigation” and a determination that the two suspects were “hurting Poland’s interests.”

Allegations of increasing numbers of Russian spies in the Czech Republic also comes on the heels of a column in the Independent which claimed the wreckage of a Russian submarine was spotted off the Swedish coast. In the October 20 column Rear Admiral Anders Grenstad said “foreign undersea activity” had been spotted “three separate times.”

Russia denied those claims. 

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins   Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.