Description: Poland’s counterintelligence agency, ABW, in cooperation with their counterparts from the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania uncovered an intelligence network suspected of originating from Belarus. Czech counterintelligence stated that the former Moldovan Deputy Head of Intelligence was the main information broker in the network, and the operability of the network was facilitated through mid – level diplomats spread across embassies in Eastern and Central Europe. The countermeasures proposed by the joint intelligence operation were to limit the movement of diplomats pertaining to Russian and Belorussian embassies and enhance counterintelligence efforts to subvert hostile activities, especially in Eastern Europe.
Impact: The uncovering of the Belorussian spy network spreading across four countries directly aligned within Europe’s eastern defensive front raises concerns over the level of infiltration from Russian and Belorussian intelligence services into Europe’s security apparatus. With the war in Ukraine remaining active for the foreseeable future, intelligence and counterintelligence capacities and efforts, especially in countries directly exposed on the eastern front bordering both Russia and Belorussia would be susceptible to incursions, covert activities and hybrid attacks. Europe’s incoherent security and defensive architecture would need to become significantly more immune towards such activities in order to prevent giving adversaries such as Russia and Belarus the upper hand on the battlefront in Ukraine and the wider European geopolitical and security theater.