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Vladimir Putin accused of using migrant influx in hybrid war against the West
Russia uses migration as a "light switch" that it can turn on and off to influence European leaders, experts say.
Vladimir Putin is accused of using migration as part of a "hybrid war" against the West, including as leverage in political support for Ukraine.
The Telegraph reveals that one of his agents – Jan Marsalek – had attempted to influence the flow of migrants to Europe by using private armies.
Jan Marsalek, the fugitive boss of the technology company Wirecard, planned to create a mercenary gang of 15,000 troops to control the border on the main migration route through Libya.
Using the influx of migrants as a 'weapon' is said to be a key goal of Vladimir Putin, with the issue being a major factor in elections across Europe.
Marsalek, who is on the run and even bought a private military company, managed to take Russian control on the ground in Libya.
The revelations come at a key moment in the war in Ukraine, with Donald Trump pressuring Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, to sit down with Putin for peace talks. European leaders have previously warned that the West could see a wave of migrants if Ukraine falls into Russian hands.
Details of Marsalek's plans may be revealed for the first time after a UK-based spy ring he ran was found guilty at the Old Bailey on Friday.
Leader Orlin Roussev, 47, and his team of Bulgarian operatives face prison after being caught plotting kidnappings and surveillance campaigns in one of the Metropolitan Police's biggest espionage operations.
There is evidence that Russia is encouraging migration in a number of ways, including the physical movement of people towards EU borders, supporting smugglers, and increasing instability and violence in certain regions, including Syria and parts of Africa.
Putin's friends are also accused of spreading "fake news" about immigration with the aim of "disrupting European unity."
Late last year, Finland closed its borders with Russia after seeing a dramatic increase in the number of immigrants without visas and proper documentation, mainly from the Middle East and Africa.
Elina Valtonen, the Finnish Foreign Minister, had said that "without a doubt" Russia was using migration in "hybrid warfare" and in some cases they were "actively helping" migrants travel to the border.
This was the latest case in a string of European countries bordering Russia and its allies that have warned they have seen a deliberate influx, with others including Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and Norway.
Frontex, the EU border police, said it had seen Russia using migration "as a lever in a larger game of influence and pressure".
In recent years Putin and his mercenaries have also increased their stronghold on the main migration routes through sub-Saharan Africa and in Libya - the smugglers' route through the central Mediterranean.
Russian mercenaries are known to have a presence in Mali, Burkina Faso, and three key migration hotspots – the Central African Republic, Sudan, and Libya.
Kilian Kleinschmidt, a humanitarian and consultant who was unwittingly involved in Marsalek's efforts to set up a border control force, said he had "warned about the weaponization of migration for a long time."
"We discovered, for example, in 2019, just before the European elections, that there was a deliberate attempt to push a new wave of mass migration from Turkey, Greece and so on, towards northern Europe," Kleinschmidt told The Telegraph.
"Misinformation was being spread by certain people, who we suspect are Iranian and Russian agent provocateurs, people who tried to push this and said that Angela Merkel would open the border again.
We have seen a very deliberate manipulation of migration flows. We see it on the border with Poland. We have seen it on the borders with Hungary, and of course from Africa. We also saw an increase in boat arrivals from eastern Libya before the last Italian elections.
"Migration has become, as we know, the main topic for the political right and populists who say 'they are coming, we must stop it.' The Russians are clearly using this topic to make Europe nervous and to influence elections," Kleinschmidt said.
Antonio Tajani, Italy's deputy prime minister, said they had intelligence that mercenaries in the region "are very active and in contact with trafficking gangs and militias interested in smuggling migrants."
Just a few months after Marsalek left Europe in June 2020, RSB Group was named alongside Wagner in a contract to provide security in neighboring Sudan.
Dr Mark Galeotti, an expert on Russian security and director of consultancy Mayak Intelligence, told The Telegraph that “Libya is potentially one of the main routes for migrants from across Africa to Europe.
“The southern parts of Italy and the northern parts of Africa are very close together and there is a sense that if the Russians are able to tighten their grip on what is happening in Libya, which they are doing largely by supporting a number of different militia movements, and especially the warlord Haftar, then they will be in a position to open or close the migration taps as they see fit. Particularly for the Mediterranean countries, many of which are already a bit lukewarm about their support for Ukraine, this would give Russia some kind of leverage.
If they can basically say 'you need to start reducing your support for Ukraine or else tomorrow suddenly 10,000 migrants will show up on boats', or vice versa, 'if you play ball with us, we will make sure this coast is closed to migrants', he said. / Adapted Pamphlet /
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