Russia Accused Of Expanding Assassination Campaign Across Europe

Western intelligence officials say Vladimir Putin is dramatically escalating a covert campaign of assassinations, sabotage and intimidation across Europe, with Russian dissidents, Ukrainian allies and defectors increasingly being hunted abroad.

According to intelligence officials from multiple European countries, Moscow’s security services have become far more aggressive since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, using criminal proxies and covert networks to target enemies deep inside NATO territory.

Activists Living Under Threat

One of the most prominent targets is Russian activist Vladimir Osechkin, who has lived under French police protection since 2022 after authorities concluded Russia was likely trying to kill him.

French court documents reportedly show a crew of Russian men spent hours surveilling Osechkin’s home in southwestern France in April 2025, filming the area and allegedly preparing for an assassination operation.

Osechkin said earlier threats included seeing what appeared to be a laser sight projected onto a wall inside his home.

The activist, who exposes abuses inside Russia’s prison system and has helped military defectors flee the country, said the danger intensified after he began investigating alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

“If it weren’t for them, I probably would have been killed,” he said of French security services.

Europe Sees Wave Of Alleged Russian Plots

Authorities across Europe have reported a growing series of assassination and sabotage plots linked to Moscow.

Officials say they disrupted:

• A plot in Lithuania targeting pro-Ukraine activists

• A suspected plan in Germany against a senior weapons manufacturer executive

• Another German plot targeting a Ukrainian military official

• A suspected attempt in Poland to assassinate Volodymyr Zelenskyy

• The killing of Russian helicopter defector Maxim Kuzminov in Spain

Western officials have linked Russia to at least 191 acts of sabotage, arson or disruption across Europe since the Ukraine war began.

Kremlin Using Criminal Proxies

Intelligence officials say Moscow increasingly relies on criminal recruits and freelance operatives rather than traditional intelligence officers.

That shift reportedly accelerated after the 2018 poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in the English city of Salisbury triggered mass expulsions of Russian diplomats and spies from Europe.

Former British counterterror commander Dominic Murphy said those expulsions made it harder for Russian intelligence agencies to operate directly on the continent.

Instead, officials say Russia now outsources operations to cheaper and more disposable proxies — often criminals or ideologically motivated recruits.

Lithuanian Activists Describe Chilling Threats

Ruslan Gabbasov, an activist advocating independence for Russia’s Bashkortostan region, said Lithuanian police discovered an Apple AirTag hidden on his car in early 2025.

Weeks later, officers allegedly warned him not to return home because a gunman had been arrested nearby waiting for him.

Authorities reportedly offered him a chance to disappear completely under a new identity.

He refused.

“I can’t betray them all by simply disappearing,” he said.

Another activist, Valdas Bartkevičius, said Lithuanian authorities uncovered a plot to kill him with a mailbox bomb after his outspoken pro-Ukraine activism and anti-Russian protests made him a high-profile target.

He also rejected offers to vanish into hiding.

Message Of Fear

Western intelligence officials believe many of the plots are designed not only to kill opponents but also to spread fear, silence critics and exhaust European security agencies.

One senior European intelligence official told reporters:

“This campaign is not by accident or chance. There is political authorization.”

Officials say Moscow’s operations now form part of a broader hybrid war against Europe — combining cyberattacks, sabotage, propaganda, intimidation and targeted killings.

And despite many plots being disrupted, intelligence agencies warn the threat remains severe.

“Even if you thwart an operation once,” one official warned, “you still need to be ready in case they strike again.”

SOURCE

Wake up.

Z Putin fascist terrorists needs to be stopped.

Denial of the threat doesn’t help.

Yes they can never win against Ukraine but their goals don't stop there.

Ir certainly isn't promising that Trump continues to help them.