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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
The Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine warned that Russian security services are purposefully recruiting Ukrainian refugees in Europe to carry out sabotage against defense and logistical facilities. According to intelligence, the Kremlin is consciously seeking operatives among vulnerable Ukrainians to create a plausible alibi and to mislead the traces of the real perpetrators of crimes.
The reason for releasing this information was a case in Brașov, Romania, where in September a fire occurred near the defense plant Carfil SA. According to the Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence Service, Romanian intelligence established that the arson was carried out by a network of agents under the leadership of Russian security services, and among the detained suspects was one Ukrainian citizen and two Belarusians.
In the intelligence report it is noted that since 2022 in Europe there have been about 200 sabotage incidents linked to Russia, with the highest share – 21% – occurring in Poland. More than 170 executors have been identified, among whom there are Ukrainians.
Under the supervision of Russian coordinators, the most vulnerable are low-income refugees, people from temporarily occupied territories, individuals with criminal connections, and teenagers seeking easy money. Recruitment often occurs through social networks and messengers, especially in job-finding chats: initially executors are given simple tasks such as photographing objects or posting stickers, and then riskier tasks follow, including surveillance, property damage, arson, or bombings.
The SBU emphasizes that some saboteurs do not even realize whom they are working for and most often are left without the promised reward, and after completing the task effectively fall under the coercion of their coordinators. The intelligence service notes that for Moscow such executors are just disposable material with no guarantees of protection after the operation.
How Ukrainians can avoid falling into the recruitment trap
The SBU explains that a signature indicator of communication with representatives of hostile security services is often the demand to keep the relationship confidential, as well as offers of “easy” earnings or promises to solve financial problems. The agency actively shares information with European colleagues about recruitment channels. A proven way to protect oneself from recruitment is for Ukrainians to seek legal assistance from the law enforcement authorities of the country they are staying in or from Ukraine's diplomatic mission.
Similar warnings about the growing threat of sabotage have sounded in recent months from the security services of other European countries. Previously, Informator reported that in Denmark attempts to recruit ordinary citizens for intelligence on defense-industrial facilities related to military aid to Ukraine had been recorded, and the head of Danish counterintelligence PET stated that there was already concrete planning of sabotage by Russians.
We also wrote that Russia may intensify sabotage in Poland in the winter 2026–2027 years, and the main targets could be railway infrastructure and routes delivering Western aid to Ukraine.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "РФ активно вербує українських біженців для диверсій у Європі - СЗРУ". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Informator.
