FT: Russia recruiting “economically vulnerable Europeans” for sabotage operations

Russia has reportedly intensified efforts to recruit “economically vulnerable Europeans” to carry out sabotage operations within EU countries, according to the Financial Times, citing anonymous sources within Western intelligence agencies.

Sources told the newspaper that former recruiters and propagandists from the Wagner Group have been involved in these operations. European intelligence officials described the structure as an “especially effective” tool for enlisting so-called “disposable” agents, used to destabilise situations across the continent.

According to the report, agents have carried out a variety of missions — from setting fire to politicians’ cars and warehouses storing aid for Ukraine, to acting under the guise of “neo-Nazi propagandists.” One European official noted that Wagner already had a ready network of recruiters and propagandists who “speak the same language” as their targets.

Western sources indicated that Russian intelligence typically sets up at least two intermediary layers between itself and the operatives to ensure plausible deniability. They always need a degree of plausible deniability… And Wagner and individuals associated with its network have a long and close history of working with the Main Intelligence Directorate in this format, the official explained.

The Wagner network’s role in sabotage activities has been closely monitored by European intelligence agencies from the outset. In late 2023, a group of Britons was reportedly recruited through Wagner-linked social media accounts. Among them, 21-year-old Dylan Earl, who in March 2024, along with four accomplices, set fire to a warehouse in East London. In 2025, he was convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison.

By Vugar Khalilov