Russia's security services step up plots to kill opponents in Europe
Updated
Updated · NBC News · May 7
Russia's security services step up plots to kill opponents in Europe
7 articles · Updated · NBC News · May 7
French court documents say four Russian-born men surveilled activist Vladimir Osechkin's Biarritz home in April 2025, while Lithuania says it foiled separate 2025 plots against two activists.
Western intelligence officials say the campaign broadened after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, increasingly targeting Russian dissidents and foreign backers of Kyiv through proxies linked to military intelligence and organised crime.
The report ties the killings drive to 191 Russia-linked sabotage and arson incidents across Europe since the war began, though many recent assassination plots were disrupted before they were carried out.
Russia now recruits civilian proxies online for assassinations. How can Europe defend against this 'gig economy' of state-sponsored terror?
Are Russia's brazen European assassination plots a sign of strength or a desperate strategy revealing degraded intelligence capabilities?
With Russian hit squads targeting dissidents on EU soil, is freedom of speech becoming a casualty of transnational repression?
Between 2025 and 2026, Russia faced a wave of bold covert attacks, including the shooting of a top GRU official in Moscow and disrupted assassination plots against Kremlin critics in Europe. These operations, often linked to Ukrainian intelligence or Russian proxies, exposed deep fractures within Russia's security services, prompting President Putin to expand protections for senior commanders. Meanwhile, Russia shifted from using elite GRU officers to proxy networks for deniable attacks, complicating European countermeasures. Despite improved intelligence sharing and legal actions, Europe struggles with resource strains and attribution challenges. Internally, Kremlin insecurity and elite infighting fuel aggressive external actions, while diplomatic tensions and the normalization of extrajudicial violence threaten regional stability.