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German security services launch campaign to warn about Russian recruitment of 'disposable agents'
Germany’s security services plan a joint public-information campaign in response to Russia’s hybrid warfare on German soil.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reported that starting September 1, German agencies will alert social media users about a rise in recruitment of so‑called “disposable agents” among residents.
The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), the Federal Intelligence Service (BND, foreign intelligence), the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) and the Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD) are taking part in the joint campaign.
The campaign aims to highlight the risks for people who hire themselves out as such operatives, also called “low-level agents.”
They are recruited via messaging apps and pushed to commit crimes without being told full details of the operations.
“Those recruited are not real agents, but mostly young men interested in technology. They often come from disadvantaged backgrounds tied to petty crime, are frequently from Russia or Eastern Europe and tend to sympathize with Putin and the Russian regime,” the paper wrote.
They are typically paid in cryptocurrency, FAZ noted, citing German security services.
Authorities consider even offenses like photographing and sending images of security-sensitive sites to be espionage if done at the behest of a foreign state. Such acts can carry heavy fines or prison time.
Tasks range from clogging car exhaust pipes with construction foam and painting pro-Kremlin propaganda graffiti to targeted spying and concrete plans for sabotage in Germany and other EU countries.
“Disposable agents” may also launch drones to scout routes used to deliver military supplies to Ukraine to aid its defense against Russia, FAZ reported.
Security services believe Russia has increasingly turned to this method in recent years after EU countries expelled large numbers of Russian “diplomats” who were in fact intelligence officers using immunity to conduct and direct sabotage.
Using “disposable agents,” who require no training investment, also helps mask the true organizers of the crimes.
