EU Member State Expelled Dozens Of Russian Spies

They pretended to be “diplomats”.

In recent months, Belgium expelled dozens of so-called Russian diplomats. The government said that these people were "clearly spies"

In addition, the aggressor has already tried to destabilize Belgian democracy. This was stated by Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, The Brussels Times reports.

According to him, the Kremlin attacks Brussels in other ways, including cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns.

"If we take a stand against Russia, we know that very often our websites become targets of cyber attacks in the following hours. For example, when the manhunt for Jürgen Conings [the former career soldier who made threats against virologists and the Belgian Government during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021] was happening, our security services had suspicions about organised disinformation campaigns at delicate moments," De Croo said.

According to media reports, in April 2023, a survey conducted by the newspaper De Tijd and its European partners showed that nowhere in Europe does Russia have so much satellite communication equipment used to transmit confidential information back to the Russian Federation as on the buildings of its embassy in Belgium.

So, on the roof of the Russian embassy building in the Uccle Municipality there are at least 17 satellite dishes, several other antennas and communication equipment that can be used for both communication and espionage.

When the Prime Minister of Belgium discussed with journalists the topic of Russian spies in the country, he also dwelt on the financing of assistance to Ukraine, noting that here "It is Putin who pays"

“Belgium has in fact found a clever solution: Russia has hundreds of billions in assets frozen in Belgium, and the aid in Ukraine is paid with the taxes on that money. So the aid is not financed by Belgian taxpayers," De Croo said.