The leak of an internal document from the Russian Executive Federal Security Service (FSB) reveals a growing mistrust of China, as the agency describes Beijing as an “enemy” in the eight -page planning document acquired by the New York Times.
The document, allegedly written by the previously unpublished FSB unit, warns that China represents a serious and expanding threat to Russian national security.
China is increasingly trying to hire Russian scientists and intelligence officers, added the document and added that Beijing aggressively targets “dissatisfied individuals” with access to sensitive military and technological information.
Espionage in Ukraine and Arctic espionage
FSB officers say Chinese agents actively follow Russian military operations in Ukraine. Their aim is to analyze Western weapons and learn modern techniques of war.
“The Chinese intelligence service carries out espionage in the Arctic by means of mining companies and university research centers as coverage,” says the report, increasing alarms over civil infrastructure and Beijing’s scientific infrastructure.
Concerns about territorial ambitions
The document also expresses concerns that China could lay the foundations to eventually question the Russian territorial demands, especially in sparsely populated and strategically important regions near their shared boundaries.
Program Contrainlligence ‘Entente-4’ Launched before the invasion of Ukraine
Remarkably, just three days before Russia attacked Ukraine in February 2022, the FSB launched a new program of parainlligence called Entente-4-Like as a pointed irony, given the Moscow public embrace of Beijing.
The report notes that with most Russian spy sources focused on Ukraine, FSB feared that China could use a shift. The timing was probably not accidental.
FSB orders the supervision of Chinese collaborators
Since 2022, the FSB says that it document a sharp increase in Chinese efforts to infiltrate Russian institutions. In response, Russian officers were ordered to organize personal encounters with Russian citizens cooperating with China.
They were instructed to eliminate the threat and prevent critical information, states in the document, added, Beijing is trying to use Russia and gain access to advanced scientific research.
Supervision, suspicion and prints
The report also reveals the climate of a deep mutual suspicion between the two powers. Chinese intelligence reportedly monitors returning workers using printing tests and control of more than 20,000 Russian students currently in China.
FSB warns that Chinese agents often look for Russians married to Chinese citizens for potential recruitment. Objective: to penetrate Russian state institutions through trusted and vulnerable personal connections.
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Hidden battle of news
Although Russia and China have publicly declared a partnership “without restrictions”, the FSB document reveals behind the scenes. It describes “tense and dynamically developing news battle in the shadow between two outwardly friendly nations”.
While the document is undated, traces suggest that according to the report it was probably developed at the end of 2023 or early 2024, which underlines the ongoing tribe of bilateral bonds despite the surface level.
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