Russian leader Vladimir Putin. (archive image)Image: keystone
The Russian secret service GRU is specifically targeting Wagner activists. The goal: hybrid attacks on the infrastructure in Europe. This is how Putin’s agents do it.
Feb 16, 2026, 9:06 p.mFeb 16, 2026, 9:06 p.m
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s GRU military intelligence service is specifically targeting the Wagner mercenaries’ infrastructure when planning hybrid attacks in the West. The priority is to recruit new agents for attacks in Western Europe. Wagner has an existing network of propagandists and recruiters who “speak their language,” the Financial Times quoted a Western intelligence agent as saying about Russian attempts to recruit young agents.
The Wagner troupe officially disbanded in 2023 after the failed coup attempt and death of its boss Yevgeny Prigozhin. But Putin’s secret service continues to rely on the recruiting skills of Wagner activists. The aim is to recruit new agents, not just from the Russian hinterland, according to the Financial Times.
Also acts of sabotage in Germany
According to findings from Western services, the Russian services rely on a so-called two-shift system. This means that there are at least two intermediate instances between the client and the executing agent. “You always want to maintain a certain level of deniability,” The Financial Times quoted a Western intelligence officer. And further: “Wagner and the people who were part of it have maintained a long and close collaboration with the GRU in this regard.”
The “Financial Times” cited an arson attack on a warehouse in London in 2024 as evidence of the Wagner thesis. The arsonist was sentenced to 23 years in prison last year. He is said to have been recruited by former Wagner activists via social media. Experts speak of so-called disposable agents who are hired for a single assignment and whose exposure is consciously taken into account at the same time.
In Germany, among other things, an act of sabotage on a railway line in the Ruhr area last year is seen as evidence of hybrid Russian attacks.
Prigozhin’s Wagner units are said to have had over 50,000 fighters at one point. They fought in Africa, among other places.
Putin mobilized the troops for his war of aggression in Ukraine after the 2022 invasion. After a lack of military success, Prigozhin turned against Putin in 2023 and started a military train to Moscow. Putin was able to put down the uprising.
Prigozhin died in a mysterious plane crash in 2023.