Russian intelligence operations have become “almost embarrassing” as their spies are taking bigger risks to steal secrets, the Daily Express understands.
Sanctions imposed after Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine and the Salisbury nerve agent poisoning have severely hampered Russian attempts to operate in the UK, it is understood.
Sources have said Russian spies do not stay “operational for long” and their plots are easier to disrupt.
They are no longer able to freely using Moscow’s embassy in Kensington as a base, protected by diplomatic immunity.
Whilst operating in the consulate, spies would have had access to secure communication networks and other sensitive intelligence that could help shape their investigations.
Instead, they have been forced to shift to tactics favoured more by Chinese intelligence officers.
They are now increasingly travelling to Britain under fake identities and are more reliant on intermediaries known as “cutouts”.
These middlemen usually only know the source and the agent they are passing the information to.
Traditionally, the Kremlin favoured allowing their network of spies to operate from the embassy and personally meet their potential sources.
But the crackdowns – in the wake of the Salisbury nerve agent attack in 2018 and the Ukraine war – have intensified efforts to catch Russian intelligence officers.
Particular attention is being paid to ensure spies expelled from one country do not appear and settle elsewhere in Europe.
But Moscow remains as determined as ever to obtain secrets in Britain and across Europe.
Russia’s GRU intelligence agency is more reliant on “illegals” – spies operating in deep cover under false names and nationalities without the protections of diplomatic immunity.
These individuals are more vulnerable to detection because of the difficulty in building believable back stories which can’t be disproved using a litany of basic online tools and programs, such as LinkedIn.
So-called “digital footprints” of the spy’s real identity may also be visible.
These also take much longer to set up, as agents have to be selected in Moscow before their cover is created.
And their activities are more likely to appear on MI5’s radar, increasing their risk of arrest.
A source told the Daily Express: “Almost every intelligence operation they have now is incredibly stupid and they are now almost an embarrassment.
“When they have tried to prop someone up, they don’t stay operational [for long].
“You can disrupt them a mile away.”
The National Security Act, which came into force in December, also increases the risk foreign spies are taking in the UK.
The Act introduced an offence of “foreign interference”, making it illegal for spies to meddle in elections or disrupt the workings of parliamentary democracy in the UK. Working covertly for a foreign hostile power will now become a criminal offence.
MI5 had long complained to ministers that it previously did not have the powers to go after agents working for hostile states.
It is alleged they carried out surveillance on people and places targeted by Russia between August 2020 and February 2023.
The suspects were remanded in custody.
Prosecutor Kathryn Selby said the “operating hub in this country for the offence of espionage” was the property of Mr Roussev.
His home address was a now-closed seaside guesthouse in Great Yarmouth.
Mr Roussev is alleged to have organised and managed the cell’s spying operations from the UK. It is alleged that such operations took place in the UK and Europe.
The three are accused of possessing 34 ID documents, some of which were suspected to be false, from the U.K., Bulgaria, France, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece and the Czech Republic.
