People who regularly cross the Russian border are more vulnerable to the risk of recruitment. As opposed to officials who work with state secrets and have been warned about the methods of foreign intelligence services, the average person is less informed. A friendly question by Russian border guards, such as whether a bribe should be given to anyone on the Latvian side and to whom, may seem innocent but allows the other side to mark potential recruits.

The Hungarian government has developed close ties with Vladimir Putin’s Russia in recent years, hence Budapest’s response to the “Skripal case” may have seemed surprisingly tough. In spring of 2018, Viktor Orbán’s government decided to expel a Russian diplomat in a show of solidarity with the United Kingdom after the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy now living in the UK.

Investigation shows the attack on Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs was larger and lasted longer than previously reported, but it is still enveloped in extreme secrecy.

Since the Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the increased NATO military presence in the Baltic states, 20 of Baltic residents have been detained under suspicions of spying, mainly for Russia. For Latvia, the two are the first cases of espionage since the restoration of independence from the Soviet Union. Who are they and why so few?

TALLINN — Russia is recruiting smugglers on its border with Estonia to work as spies and informants in an attempt to destabilize the NATO country, a joint BuzzFeedNews/Re:Baltica investigation can reveal.