Russian Agent Exposed in Sweden

Swedish public broadcaster SVT reports that the Swedish Security Service, Säpo, has exposed a covert agent at another country's embassy in Stockholm.

“The aim has been to gather information from key political decision-makers in Sweden,” acting head of operations at Säpo, Christoffer Wedelin, told SVT.

According to SVT, the covert agent from another country's embassy is said to have met a Russian intelligence officer at a pub in the Stockholm area. This was done without their knowledge that Säpo was monitoring the situation from the same venue.

“We have a good overview of what type of information has been exchanged and what kind of assignments the agent has had. We have also seen that gifts were given from the Russian intelligence officer to the agent,” says Wedelin.

According to Säpo, the goal of the operation was to influence Sweden’s political decisions, as well as to discredit Sweden, the EU and NATO. Wedelin will not go into which Swedish individuals the agent targeted, but says they were key political decision-makers.

The Russian intelligence officer, a colleague and the agent have all left the country. There is no investigation under way against them.

"They have operated in Sweden under diplomatic immunity. In that case, it is not possible to carry out an investigation with the aim of bringing them to justice", says Wedelin.