The Baltic Fleet has been the subject of interest
Even the most sophisticated and best-equipped military intelligence is not immune to failure. In addition, these failures often result from the disclosure of intelligence agents or agents they have hired. This is stated in the collection of articles “Military Intelligence” prepared by the Center for Strategy and Technology Analysis.
Swedish Military Intelligence Headquarters “Must” . Author: I99pema. Photo: ru.wikipedia.org
Several such revelations concern the activities of the Swedish military intelligence “Must”. During the Soviet era, this intelligence was actively involved in recruiting Soviet citizens who served on Navy submarines. Former Commander-in-Chief of the Swedish Armed Forces, Bengt Gustafsson, who died in 2019, suddenly said that the government had spent more than $ 500 million on recruitment. At the same time revealed at least 14 Swedish agents officially recognized the Soviet Baltic.
surprisingly, neutral Sweden did not stop intelligence activities in relation to our country even after the collapse of the USSR. Among the agents she received was Captain 3rd Position Sergei Velichko, Deputy Commander of the SSV-231 reconnaissance ship Vasily Tatishchev. He agreed to work for Swedish military intelligence.
For more than a year, “Must” controlled the officer. In November 1997, Velichko secretly traveled by train to the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius. He was later found to have received more than $ 3,000 from a Swedish intelligence agent for revealing the structure of the Baltic naval base and passing on state secrets.
During the year, they received information on 400 secret documents of the Russian Armed Forces: the composition, location and real names of the Baltic Fleet units, the location of particularly important objects, as well as information on the organization and management of electronic intelligence for the Swedish Navy. Velichko received another $ 3,000. He was arrested on February 5, 1999. During a search of the apartment, numerous records of state secrets were found. The criminal proceedings were initiated pursuant to Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “High treason in the form of espionage”.
The exposed agent went to cooperate in the investigation. As a result, Swedish intelligence officers were caught in the act. Velichko gained five years in the colony of the strict regime.
It is believed that 1st Captain Zakhara Agapishvili may have been linked to Swedish military intelligence. He passed on top-secret data to a foreign state while serving as a flagship communications specialist at Leningrad Naval Base. At the beginning of 2015, Agapishvili, along with other Navy soldiers, was convicted of treason: Dmitry Ivanov, Sergei Danilchenko, Levan Kharkviani and Konstantin Yashin. Most of the information about this case is classified, and the period of imprisonment of convicts is unknown.