BREAKING: Swiss security services foil a Russian espionage operation in Davos
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Translation:
And then the plumber pulled out a diplomatic passport
Before the meeting of top politicians and business representatives, the Graubünden police stopped two possible spies from Russia in Davos.
A magnet for politicians, top managers - and spies: the strictly guarded Congress Center 2020 in Davos. Photo: Alessandro della Valle
For spies from Russia, the WEF probably started in the summer. In August 2019, two suspected Russian agents were exposed in Davos. They are suspected of having carried out preparatory work for spying on the World Economic Forum, which began on Monday evening with speeches by founder Klaus Schwab and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
International politicians and business leaders meet in Davos this week. Even if there are still cancellations, there is no shortage of interesting espionage targets - above all Donald Trump and Angela Merkel. Once again, Vladimir Putin, who last arrived eleven years ago, has canceled. Russia's president does not attach much importance to the WEF, said one of its spokesmen.
Personnel control in Davos
Putin's apparatus seems to be interested in the meeting of the powerful. At least this is indicated by a scene that took place in Davos five months ago. The security authorities had noticed two men. "The Graubünden cantonal police subjected two Russian citizens to a person check in Davos in August 2019," confirms their information chief Anita Senti. At least one of the men pretended to be a tinsmith. Like his companion, however, he had a Russian diplomatic passport with him.
The Graubünden police officers were startled when they learned that the craftsmen wanted to stay three weeks, from 8 to 28 August. This is an expensive thing for someone who is supposed to make a living by installing pipes and repairing toilets in Russia.
When asked why the men had diplomatic passports, says Stanislaw Smirnow, press attaché of the Russian embassy in Bern: "There are also people outside the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs who receive a diplomatic passport." been entrusted during the WEF. The state-run Roscongress Foundation organizes an event program in a former café on Davoser Hauptstrasse.
Russians threatened consequences
According to the Graubünden cantonal police, the suspect duo had not been accredited as a diplomat in Switzerland. It would not have been able to claim immunity if it had been detained for suspected intelligence offenses.
Only accredited diplomats enjoy extensive protection against law enforcement. Nevertheless, the controlled Russians claimed special rights, as several sources agree, and Russian officials even threatened diplomatic consequences if the men were arrested. But you didn't let it get that far. The Bündner Kantonspolizei switched on Bern, the federal intelligence service became active. But in the end, the two Russians were let go. What they planned to do in Davos remained too vague.
It is obvious to connoisseurs of the case who spoke anonymously about the matter that the two men had their sights on the WEF. For example, they might have prepared a listening or hacking operation for a long time. It is not only other heads of state and their delegations that can be considered as espionage targets. The WEF also attracts Kremlin critics such as Bill Browder, whom The New Yorker describes as Russia's most wanted man.
The police were startled when they learned that the alleged plumbers wanted to stay in Davos for three weeks.
"Davos is one of the few places where I can directly confront Russian officials with human rights violations," says the American-British investor Bill Browder, who is on the road to the Swiss Alps again this year. Since the painful death of his colleague Sergei Magnitsky in a Moscow prison, he has been fighting for justice and has brought sanctions to many Russians through states like the United States. Browder says Russia wants him to stop participating in Davos, but the WEF leadership refuses to exclude him.
Russian spy activities in Switzerland have increased significantly in recent years. A cyber espionage team from the Russian military intelligence agency GRU was caught during an operation in The Hague in 2018 thanks to a tip from the Swiss intelligence service. It had train tickets to Basel and directions to Labor Spiez. Another GRU force was active for months on Lake Geneva, the traces of this unit then led to the ex-agent Sergei Skripal in England with a nerve agent until the attack.
The examples show that Russia not only sends plumber diplomats to Switzerland. However, the embassy in Bern has always denied the allegations of espionage - including on Monday in the Davos case.
Done with discretion
The intelligence activities of the duo, which made themselves suspicious there, have not been proven. "There were no indications of criminal acts during the controls," writes Anita Senti from the Graubünden cantonal police. Therefore, there were no arrests and no entry bans. The two suspects were observed, but were able to leave Switzerland unhindered.
Internationally, espionage cases are often handled discreetly in order to avoid interstate upheavals. According to its own statements, the federal prosecutor's office in Bern has not opened any criminal proceedings because of the incident in Davos. On the other hand, since 2017 she has been searching for those Russians who allegedly carried out a cyber attack on the world anti-doping agency Wada in Lausanne.
Created: 01/20/2020, 09:34 PM
And then the plumber pulled out a diplomatic passport
Before the meeting of top politicians and business representatives, the Graubünden police stopped two possible spies from Russia in Davos.
A magnet for politicians, top managers - and spies: the strictly guarded Congress Center 2020 in Davos. Photo: Alessandro della Valle
For spies from Russia, the WEF probably started in the summer. In August 2019, two suspected Russian agents were exposed in Davos. They are suspected of having carried out preparatory work for spying on the World Economic Forum, which began on Monday evening with speeches by founder Klaus Schwab and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
International politicians and business leaders meet in Davos this week. Even if there are still cancellations, there is no shortage of interesting espionage targets - above all Donald Trump and Angela Merkel. Once again, Vladimir Putin, who last arrived eleven years ago, has canceled. Russia's president does not attach much importance to the WEF, said one of its spokesmen.
Personnel control in Davos
Putin's apparatus seems to be interested in the meeting of the powerful. At least this is indicated by a scene that took place in Davos five months ago. The security authorities had noticed two men. "The Graubünden cantonal police subjected two Russian citizens to a person check in Davos in August 2019," confirms their information chief Anita Senti. At least one of the men pretended to be a tinsmith. Like his companion, however, he had a Russian diplomatic passport with him.
The Graubünden police officers were startled when they learned that the craftsmen wanted to stay three weeks, from 8 to 28 August. This is an expensive thing for someone who is supposed to make a living by installing pipes and repairing toilets in Russia.
When asked why the men had diplomatic passports, says Stanislaw Smirnow, press attaché of the Russian embassy in Bern: "There are also people outside the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs who receive a diplomatic passport." been entrusted during the WEF. The state-run Roscongress Foundation organizes an event program in a former café on Davoser Hauptstrasse.
Russians threatened consequences
According to the Graubünden cantonal police, the suspect duo had not been accredited as a diplomat in Switzerland. It would not have been able to claim immunity if it had been detained for suspected intelligence offenses.
Only accredited diplomats enjoy extensive protection against law enforcement. Nevertheless, the controlled Russians claimed special rights, as several sources agree, and Russian officials even threatened diplomatic consequences if the men were arrested. But you didn't let it get that far. The Bündner Kantonspolizei switched on Bern, the federal intelligence service became active. But in the end, the two Russians were let go. What they planned to do in Davos remained too vague.
It is obvious to connoisseurs of the case who spoke anonymously about the matter that the two men had their sights on the WEF. For example, they might have prepared a listening or hacking operation for a long time. It is not only other heads of state and their delegations that can be considered as espionage targets. The WEF also attracts Kremlin critics such as Bill Browder, whom The New Yorker describes as Russia's most wanted man.
The police were startled when they learned that the alleged plumbers wanted to stay in Davos for three weeks.
"Davos is one of the few places where I can directly confront Russian officials with human rights violations," says the American-British investor Bill Browder, who is on the road to the Swiss Alps again this year. Since the painful death of his colleague Sergei Magnitsky in a Moscow prison, he has been fighting for justice and has brought sanctions to many Russians through states like the United States. Browder says Russia wants him to stop participating in Davos, but the WEF leadership refuses to exclude him.
Russian spy activities in Switzerland have increased significantly in recent years. A cyber espionage team from the Russian military intelligence agency GRU was caught during an operation in The Hague in 2018 thanks to a tip from the Swiss intelligence service. It had train tickets to Basel and directions to Labor Spiez. Another GRU force was active for months on Lake Geneva, the traces of this unit then led to the ex-agent Sergei Skripal in England with a nerve agent until the attack.
The examples show that Russia not only sends plumber diplomats to Switzerland. However, the embassy in Bern has always denied the allegations of espionage - including on Monday in the Davos case.
Done with discretion
The intelligence activities of the duo, which made themselves suspicious there, have not been proven. "There were no indications of criminal acts during the controls," writes Anita Senti from the Graubünden cantonal police. Therefore, there were no arrests and no entry bans. The two suspects were observed, but were able to leave Switzerland unhindered.
Internationally, espionage cases are often handled discreetly in order to avoid interstate upheavals. According to its own statements, the federal prosecutor's office in Bern has not opened any criminal proceedings because of the incident in Davos. On the other hand, since 2017 she has been searching for those Russians who allegedly carried out a cyber attack on the world anti-doping agency Wada in Lausanne.
Created: 01/20/2020, 09:34 PM
Last edited:
I wonder what our response will be 
These guys are the plumbers the Coli talks about with millions of dollars living the best life.
These guys are the plumbers the Coli talks about with millions of dollars living the best life.
that pensionI wonder what our response will be
These guys are the plumbers the Coli talks about with millions of dollars living the best life.
Wargames
One Of The Last Real Ones To Do It
They really sent a hit squad.....
they should of put them both underneath the jail
they should of put them both underneath the jail
Swiss uncovered suspected Davos spy plot by Russian 'plumbers': paper
Swiss uncovered suspected Davos spy plot by Russian 'plumbers': paper
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Swiss officials foiled an apparent spying operation by Russians posing as plumbers in Davos, site of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, a newspaper reported on Tuesday, but police did not confirm key details of the account.
FILE PHOTO: A police officer stands guard near the Congress Center ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland January 20, 2020. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
The report in the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper said the two Russians were checked by Swiss police in August last year in the ski resort, which is hosting the WEF gathering of the global business and political elite this week. The pair presented diplomatic passports and left the country, the paper said.
Police in the eastern Swiss canton of Grisons said two men with Russian diplomatic passports had been the subjects of a routine identity check in Davos in August 2019, but no connection had been established between their visit and the WEF.
“It is true that we checked two Russian citizens in Davos and they identified themselves with diplomatic passports, but we could not ascertain any reason to detain them. They were allowed to go,” a cantonal police spokeswoman said, adding police had never identified the men as plumbers.
A spokesman for the Russian embassy in Bern dismissed the report, saying two Russian diplomats accredited outside Switzerland had been checked and allowed to go on their way.
“Diplomatic passports are given to high-ranking officials, not to manual laborers,” he said. “I think this was probably a dumb joke.”
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow, said she was not aware of the incident.
Investment fund manager Bill Browder, who has led a campaign to expose corruption and punish Russian officials whom he blames for the death of his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, who died in a Moscow prison in 2009 after complaining of mistreatment, said the alleged incident showed the reach of the Russian state.
“The Russians are actively targeting all of their enemies in all different countries - they have huge resources and Davos is an important place, and this is the one place I can come and personally challenge Russian officials over the murder of Sergei Magnitsky,” Browder told Reuters Today in Davos on Tuesday.
Russian prosecutors have said they suspect Browder of ordering a string of murders, including of Magnitsky, in a twist the financier has dismissed as ludicrous.
Reporting by Kathryn Lurie in Davos and Michael Shields in Zurich; Editing by Alex Richardson
Swiss uncovered suspected Davos spy plot by Russian 'plumbers': paper
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Swiss officials foiled an apparent spying operation by Russians posing as plumbers in Davos, site of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, a newspaper reported on Tuesday, but police did not confirm key details of the account.
FILE PHOTO: A police officer stands guard near the Congress Center ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland January 20, 2020. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
The report in the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper said the two Russians were checked by Swiss police in August last year in the ski resort, which is hosting the WEF gathering of the global business and political elite this week. The pair presented diplomatic passports and left the country, the paper said.
Police in the eastern Swiss canton of Grisons said two men with Russian diplomatic passports had been the subjects of a routine identity check in Davos in August 2019, but no connection had been established between their visit and the WEF.
“It is true that we checked two Russian citizens in Davos and they identified themselves with diplomatic passports, but we could not ascertain any reason to detain them. They were allowed to go,” a cantonal police spokeswoman said, adding police had never identified the men as plumbers.
A spokesman for the Russian embassy in Bern dismissed the report, saying two Russian diplomats accredited outside Switzerland had been checked and allowed to go on their way.
“Diplomatic passports are given to high-ranking officials, not to manual laborers,” he said. “I think this was probably a dumb joke.”
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow, said she was not aware of the incident.
Investment fund manager Bill Browder, who has led a campaign to expose corruption and punish Russian officials whom he blames for the death of his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, who died in a Moscow prison in 2009 after complaining of mistreatment, said the alleged incident showed the reach of the Russian state.
“The Russians are actively targeting all of their enemies in all different countries - they have huge resources and Davos is an important place, and this is the one place I can come and personally challenge Russian officials over the murder of Sergei Magnitsky,” Browder told Reuters Today in Davos on Tuesday.
Russian prosecutors have said they suspect Browder of ordering a string of murders, including of Magnitsky, in a twist the financier has dismissed as ludicrous.
Reporting by Kathryn Lurie in Davos and Michael Shields in Zurich; Editing by Alex Richardson
