Former CIA agent Sean Wiswesser has opened up about how Russian intelligence services allegedly rely on modern “tradecraft” and low-level recruits to conduct espionage operations in the United Kingdom and Europe.
His interview published in the British newspaper The iPaper revealed that Russian agencies such as the FSB and GRU increasingly use “disposable” proxies. These are often recruited online through platforms like Telegram. Once onboarded, they are asked to carry out tasks ranging from surveillance to arson.
“One Russian tactic that has existed for decades is the use of proxies: hiring outsiders to do their dirty work for them, sometimes without these people realising what they’re doing or who they’re helping. It makes their operations harder to detect and avoids risking the lives of experienced agents,” Wiswesser, who served with the CIA in the former Soviet Union, noted.
Wiswesser has spent his 30-year US intelligence career studying how spies operate in the field. He claimed that these recruits by Russia are often vulnerable individuals or petty criminals.
According to him, the Russian intelligence service has increased use of “single-use” agents for sabotage and attacks, sometimes called “wet work”, in recent years. He also claimed that the UK is a key target.
To carry out their tasks, FSB and GRU recruit vulnerable “misfits” online or through contacts, including teenagers, paying small amounts. Their tasks may include photographing rail lines or even planting explosives. He argued that this activity has become more reckless than before and reflects desperation in Russian intelligence.
During the interaction, Wiswesser, who left the CIA only two years ago, cited many recent examples of the alleged spy network of Russia in Europe. He recalled that in 2024, the Wagner Group recruited UK drug dealer Dylan Earl via Telegram, who then involved young men in an arson attack on a warehouse in Leyton, east London. This facility was storing aid for Ukraine.
Separately, six Bulgarians were jailed in the UK for spying on journalists investigating the cases of Sergei Skripal and Alexei Navalny. In Poland, two men damaged railway lines used for Ukraine aid. What turned out more surprising about this incident was that the suspects were reportedly Ukrainian nationals.
“They are using a lot of Ukrainian emigres,” said Wiswesser. Many of them speak Russian and may not be happy with their lives after fleeing abroad to escape the Russian invasion of their country.
Additionally, European authorities are more concerned as Russia may also be recruiting proxies among Russian emigrants in the UK.
According to Wiswesser, these are legal residents or citizens and are loyal to the UK, but some also retain ties to Russia.
Wiswesser explained that after the Cold War, Russia was not a top focus for the United States. However, the growth of the internet has expanded its cyber attacks and disinformation operations.
He said that Russia continues to recruit or compromise officials and businesspeople by exploiting their personal or financial weaknesses. These age-old tactics involving people’s debts or addictions still work for them and are vastly different from the Western agencies, which prefer incentives.
However, he also warned that there is a growing lack of professionalism within the Russian spy ecosystem, which may allow some operatives to go rogue without approvals.
“The Russian security services, they can do whatever the hell they want, as long as they don’t run afoul of their great leader,” he said.
