Russia uses disposable agents in Switzerland too

Russia is recruiting low-paid operatives through social media for sabotage and espionage missions, and some have links to Switzerland, SRF reports. The Swiss intelligence service says it has identified several such agents, whose activities mostly targeted other European countries.

The issue came into focus after the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court on Tuesday convicted a 30-year-old Ukrainian of agent activity for sabotage purposes. He allegedly acted on behalf of a Russian state entity, understood to mean the Russian intelligence service. He had most recently lived in Switzerland.

In March 2025, the Ukrainian and two other men sent two parcels in Germany. Each contained a GPS tracker and vehicle parts. The parcels were posted through a Ukrainian delivery service in Germany to trace the route taken by shipments from Germany to Ukraine.

The suspected aim was to identify transport routes and related infrastructure for possible sabotage, allegedly using incendiary devices. However, the court found it unproven that the three defendants had already planned or prepared such attacks. Two co-defendants were fully acquitted.

The 30-year-old was convicted of sending the parcels with the GPS devices to scout potential sabotage targets. The Stuttgart court said he had organised the operation on the instructions of an acquaintance from Russian-occupied Mariupol. The verdict is not yet final.

The case is not an isolated example in Switzerland. In response to research by SRF and the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper, the Swiss intelligence service said Switzerland had no special status and that it had identified agents with links to the country. It provided no details, but the statement appears to mean that the targets were in neighbouring countries while the agents lived in Switzerland.

The intelligence service also confirmed that a small number of activities had been detected in Switzerland, adding that this applied only where they could be recognised as being state-directed. It did not provide further information.

That illustrates why disposable agents are difficult for intelligence services to detect and why identifying their handlers is even harder. Unlike intelligence officers, who often undergo strict selection and extensive training before operating abroad under diplomatic cover, disposable agents can be recruited from almost any background.

Experts say they are often approached through social media, including Telegram groups focused on the war in Ukraine. They may be offered payment for an initial task, such as spraying anti-Ukraine graffiti on a wall. After sending a photograph as proof, they can receive a few hundred euros through a digital transaction.

The Swiss intelligence service said recruitment was not targeted but as broad as possible. The method resembles that of criminal organisations, it added. Security authorities across Europe describe the phenomenon as crime as a service, in which mostly young people are recruited through the darknet and conventional platforms to carry out individual offences.

The Zurich public prosecutor’s office has recently warned about the trend, including the increasing involvement of minors in drug trafficking. The development is blurring the boundaries between state espionage, organised crime and political violence.

The Iranian regime, for example, has used biker gangs to carry out attacks against Jews and Israelis or to intimidate dissidents.