Russian spies in Brussels lie low ahead of Biden
visit
Belgian state security says the Russians are ‘less
active’ and are observing the rules.
BY BARBARA
MOENS
March 23,
2022 9:19 pm
https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-spy-brussels-biden-visit/
The
Russians are keeping their invisible ink and exploding pens safely locked away.
U.S.
President Joe Biden is arriving in Brussels on Wednesday night for a bumper
session of NATO, EU and G7 meetings but Russian agents in Europe’s city of
spies are keeping their heads down.
Since the
beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Belgian authorities have seen a
decrease of Russian espionage activities on Belgian territory, a spokesperson
for Belgian state security said.
“They are
less active, they have become more cautious and observe a lot of security
rules,” the spokesperson said.
Belgian
state security could not comment on the number of Russian spies in Brussels,
which hosts both the EU institutions and NATO headquarters. Belgian media have
reported that one-third of Russian diplomats are actually intelligence
officers, which would add up to a couple of dozen Russian spies in Brussels.
Public
prosecutors have called for an update of the country’s law on espionage, which
dates back to the 1930s because Belgium has long considered spying not to be a
crime. Public prosecutors have cited Belgium’s role as a diplomatic hub as
justification for broadening the definition of espionage in national law to
ensure prosecution.
Earlier
this month, the European Parliament also called on Belgian authorities to
“review and update the domestic anti-espionage framework to enable effective
detection, prosecution and sanctioning of offenders” guilty of foreign
infiltration.
The Belgian
government last year announced it would invest more in its state security,
aiming for the government agency to increase its employees from the current 583
to 1,000 by 2024. At the time, Belgian Justice Minister Vincent Van
Quickenborne called counterintelligence one of the state’s priorities, saying
that those teams will be strengthened.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário