The Finnish Security Service (SUPO) was able to "limit" the work of Russian special services in Finland last year. As a result, Russian espionage operations in Finland have significantly decreased over the past year.
This was reported by ABC News.
"Last year, the Russian intelligence base (in Finland) was reduced by about half compared to its previous size," said SUPO Director Antti Pelttari. According to him, the reason for the reduction is the expulsion of suspected spies and the refusal to issue visas to Russians.
The SUPO report emphasizes that Russia has traditionally conducted intelligence operations in Finland under diplomatic cover. In 2022, Moscow focused on cyber espionage to compensate for the lack of agent intelligence.
"Although Russia is still trying to place intelligence officers under diplomatic cover, it has to compensate for the lack of agents, for example, by increasingly resorting to other formats of covert operations abroad," Pelttari said.
Finland's border with Russia is 1,340 kilometers long. After Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, the Finns have been trying to isolate themselves from their neighbor in every possible way.
Thus, in February, Finland started building a 3 km test section of the fence on the border with Russia, which will be completed by June. This is only the initial stage, the length of the entire fence will be at least 200 km. Its construction may take 3-4 years and the project will cost $143 million, Reuters reported.
Background. As reported, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark are planning to unite their air forces.