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Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe
81–90 of 502 posts
Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe
#82This is my semi annual plug for all of you to watch the fantastic and somehow forgotten FX network TV show, The Americans, A spy drama set in Washington DC in the 1980s about KGB “illegals” posing as travel agents. It’s way better than any basic cable TV show had any right to be. Plus, all seasons are streaming on Hulu, so you don’t have to worry about whether the story will be completed. https://www.hulu.com/series/…
The most realistic Russian sleeper scenario imo was in Slow Horses. Brits don't insult your intelligence too greatly in their spook shows; the American variety always involves some sort of super-human characters. It's good as entertainment, the Americans, but just over the top.
Sandbaggers is still up there as one of the best, I rewatched it last week.
Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your pay is whatever job you have as a cover pays you. If you were getting additional pay to that, then it would be a red flag when the various agencies investigate you.
If your pay is less than your cover, do you have to give it back? How does health insurance work for spy stuff? If the GRU agent gets exposed to novachuck, do they get to see a Russian specialist or do they just have access to the providers in their cover plan?
Nothing you wrote makes any sense to me.
> If your pay is less than your cover, do you have to give it back?
How can your pay be less than your cover? Your cover job is paying you. Your host agency is not.
> How does health insurance work for spy stuff?
At this point, I'm curious if this is an attempt at humor?
Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe
#84This is my semi annual plug for all of you to watch the fantastic and somehow forgotten FX network TV show, The Americans, A spy drama set in Washington DC in the 1980s about KGB “illegals” posing as travel agents. It’s way better than any basic cable TV show had any right to be. Plus, all seasons are streaming on Hulu, so you don’t have to worry about whether the story will be completed. https://www.hulu.com/series/…
I want to give some advice: Don't judge it by its first few episodes. When I first checked it out, the basic setup seemed rather inane and I stopped watching. Then, a couple years later, I needed something to watch during long exercise sessions and I checked it out again. It was getting much more interesting by the end of the first season. And every season got better and richer. By the very end, I experienced it as a…
I had initially ignored the show because they had cast Keri Russell which I had assumed to be a total light weight. So I missed it the first few years and then I realized after its fourth renewal - gee maybe its good - and well - I was completely wrong. She was amazing. The show was terrific. But I'm a sucker for 80s cold war dramatics.
Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe
#85What I don't understand is why the attack on the Czech Republic was not seen as an attack by Russia on NATO.
What for? To start a war between nuclear powers just because of sabotage? Furthermore, we the members of NATO sometimes sabotage other members, like when some pipes of the Nord Stream pipeline were destroyed two years ago. So...
>we the members of NATO sometimes sabotage other members, like when some pipes of the Nord Stream pipeline were destroyed two years ago. So...
Or when NATO members wanted to build Nord Stream despite protests from other NATO members.
Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe
#86What I don't understand is why the attack on the Czech Republic was not seen as an attack by Russia on NATO.
That's a very good question. The problem is what's next if they acknowledge that.
Say it is acknowledged as an attack on a NATO member, but nothing is done. That immediately turns NATO's worth from whatever its is worth now, to less than the paper it was printed on in 1999 when the Check Republic joined the organization.
That's the achilles heel of NATO, and the Russian government knows it. Same goes for Baltic countries and possibly Poland. Currently what is Americans' and West Europeans' appetite for starting WWIII over an arms warehouse, or a small village in Baltics? I want to believe they would step up, but I am not convinced. Those kind of attacks becomes very attractive for Putin: blow something up here, hack something there, assassinate this or that person, and then watch NATO do anything.
That's why the predictable response it so look away and pretend nobody saw anything.
Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
All major intelligence agencies have them. Why GRU would be any different?
GRU is nominally military intelligence and SVR inherited the KGB illegals program. These programs are really hard and have a ton of overhead supporting a relatively small number of actual officers. Having duplicate capabilities for it is a waste. Especially in this case where they're used for active crimes/violence. The GRU has never been shy about just going and murdering people on a tourist visa[0], why bother with…
Agencies need all types of spies, some laying low for years in case their networks get rolled up.
Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe
#88What I don't understand is why the attack on the Czech Republic was not seen as an attack by Russia on NATO.
The most egregious acts can be downplayed or politely ignored, if the aggrieved party really wishes to avoid war. On the other hand, the smallest provocation can serve as a justification for war, if the aggrieved party wants war.
North Korea regularly shells South Korea, sometimes killing South Korean civilians. It's absolutely a cause for war, and they might indeed be justified, in a sense, with breaking the ceasefire and marching on Pyongyang the next time NK does so. But they will have to live with the war that would cause.
Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe
#89What I don't understand is why the attack on the Czech Republic was not seen as an attack by Russia on NATO.
Add it to the long list of attacks. The real question is ‘what sort of attack would generate a response from NATO?’
Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe
#90> In both cases, she used sophisticated tradecraft that sought to leave no trace in databases accessible to European authorities. For instance, she booked her trips and bought her plane tickets using her Czech passport, registering only that nationality with the Greek airline. But upon crossing the Russian border, Šapošnikova used her secret Russian passport, thus bypassing the need to obtain a Russian visa issued to…
Many (most?) countries do not require you to show any passport when exiting the country. (But if you’re traveling by air, then the next country you enter will likely share your passport details with the country you just departed.)