Embassy in Switzerland Embassy ● Roster captured ● host list

Yahoo! News reported on October 8th that “there are about 80 Russian spies in Switzerland, which is about one-fifth of the total number of Russian agents in Europe. Source: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, citing the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service, as reported by European Pravda. Details: European states have been actively countering the Russian intelligence network, expelling employees of Russian embassies since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. However, Switzerland did not resort to such a step due to the long tradition of neutrality. The estimates of the intelligence service, shared with members of parliament in September, indicate that there are currently about 80 Russian agents in the country. A representative of the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs in an interview with NZZ emphasised that the country’s government “does not impose any sanctions in the form of expelling diplomats”, adding that communication channels with Russia should be preserved. Quote: “When Switzerland expels diplomats, it does so for internal security reasons, and these cases are not reported publicly,” the source added. Such Swiss cities as Geneva and Bern have always attracted the attention of intelligence because of the location of international organisations and companies there, the problem of Russian espionage has become a hot topic of debate among Swiss politicians. “These foreign agents threaten Switzerland’s internal and external security,” Fabian Molina, a member of the Swiss National Assembly (the lower house of parliament), said in an interview with NZZ.”

Jonas Roth of the Swiss Neue Zürcher Zeitung published this article summarising some of the tradecraft of Russian intelligence officers and agents based on what is publicly known. The full title of the article is “«The embassy serves as a logistics base» — how Russian spies operate in Switzerland. There are numerous Russian spies and agents in Switzerland, many of them under diplomatic camouflage. Since the war in Ukraine, their numbers have likely increased. What are they doing there?”