Kėstutis Budrys, Lithuania’s foreign minister, has urged the EU to designate Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency as a terrorist organisation before a 12 October meeting of EU foreign ministers. Budrys spent most of his career at Lithuania’s State Security Department, the country’s civilian intelligence and security agency.
The GRU has been linked to a recent arson attack in Munich and to a drone attack at Leipzig airport in August.
The EU terrorist list has yet to include a Russian entity. Its current entries include Islamists such as Hamas and Islamic State, as well as the perpetrators of the 9/11 attack against the US.
Budrys tied his appeal to the EU’s decision in September to remove two oligarchs from sanctions following pressure from France, Slovakia and Luxembourg.
“When we projected our weakness by delisting two prominent oligarchs from our sanctions, we saw how Russia reacted to it. They escalated, escalated both in Ukraine and now they're escalating in Europe, in our countries,” he said.
Latvia’s foreign minister, Baiba Braze, also criticised the removals. “Let's look at ourselves. The EU first took out two big Russian oligarchs, the biggest ever supporters of Putin's regime, from the sanctions,” she said.
Budrys argued that tougher sanctions were required. “Only when we increase our sanctions, when we show that we are serious, will we deny Russia the possibility to raise havoc in our capitals,” he said.
Russian intelligence faced a serious logistical and operational crisis after the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine. Strict visa restrictions, tougher background checks and the exposure of career intelligence officers made traditional overseas spying missions virtually impossible, according to the account of Russian intelligence activity in the brief.
Russian agencies then sought recruits among ordinary foreigners, for whom crossing borders was significantly easier. Their tasks ranged from provocative or anti-Ukrainian graffiti and arson to contract killings of the Kremlin’s political opponents.
The US Department of Justice said it had neutralised an “intelligence network” recruited by Russian intelligence agencies that was planning to assassinate pro-Ukrainian activists and dissidents in the US and European countries.
An FBI indictment set out planning for attempted assassinations of Russian opposition figures including Garry Kasparov, Ilya Ponomarev and Vladimir Kara-Murza. Members of the group are suspected of arranging arson and sabotage against critical infrastructure in Ukraine’s partner nations.
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