Russian spies escalate Western tech theft as economy strains
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- Russian intelligence agencies have grown more aggressive in stealing Western technology and defense secrets, building fake companies, recruiting middlemen, and deploying cyber spies as four years of sanctions and the war in Ukraine squeeze the wartime economy, three senior European intelligence officials told AP.
- Sweden's Security Service said Russia is specifically targeting the defense industry and high-end research on the Gripen fighter jet, plus civilian camera and laser technology that could be integrated into Russian weapons systems.
- Russia-linked actors attempted to "destroy" a Swedish power plant last year, marking a shift from reconnaissance to destructive attacks that was partly aimed at undermining Western support for Ukraine, deputy head Christoffer Wedelin said.
- Russia's economy is under severe strain, with about a third of GDP going to the war effort and a budget deficit of roughly 3.4 trillion rubles ($47.9 billion) already accumulated by the end of February—against a planned full-year 2026 deficit of 3.7 trillion rubles ($52.1 billion), per Estonian intelligence chief Kaupo Rosin.
- U.K. signals intelligence director Anne Keast-Butler accused Russia of "relentlessly targeting" the U.K. and European allies through theft, sabotage, and assassination plots, and said almost 500,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine since the 2022 full-scale invasion.
- Finnish intelligence chief Juha Martelius said Russia is pursuing space, quantum, arctic, and marine technology for long-term advantage, plus sanctioned computer chips and software updates needed to keep machine tools running.
- Russia's intelligence posture has shifted to not caring about attribution, taking greater risks to achieve goals, with the internal "total victory" narrative in Ukraine having vanished from assessments over the past six months, Wedelin said.
Why it matters: Russia is taking greater espionage risks because it has to: about a third of GDP goes to war spending, the budget deficit has nearly hit its 2026 target by February, and Estonian intelligence reports Russian officials are privately questioning what the war is for. Western defense firms and infrastructure operators now face a more brazen adversary less constrained by fear of exposure.
