Germany ‘standing in way’ of Czech bid to limit EU travel of Russian spies
www.telegraph.co.uk
Berlin wants ‘business as usual with Moscow’, warns diplomat as it resists crackdown on free movement of potential saboteurs across Europe

Germany is blocking tighter restrictions on Russian spy-diplomats across Europe.

The Czech Republic has proposed ending free movement for Russian diplomats and their families in the European Union’s Schengen zone amid a series of Kremlin-inspired attacks.

Warehouses containing aid destined for Ukraine, arms factories supplying Kyiv and railway infrastructure heading east have all been targeted by Russia’s mounting hybrid war on the Continent, it is claimed.

Moscow has often deployed its intelligence officers in Europe under the guise of diplomatic postings.

The EU’s free-travel area, which spans 29 countries, is “easing malign activities” across the bloc, Jan Lipasvsky, the Czech foreign minister, wrote in a recent letter to Josep Borrell, Brussels’ top foreign diplomat.

Mr Lipasvsky, backed by eight EU counterparts, urged Brussels to “restrict the movement of Russian diplomats and their family members to the territory of a state of their accreditation only”.

[…]

European diplomats who spoke to The Telegraph and diplomatic notes seen by this publication revealed that Germany is a key blockage to the proposed crackdown.

It prompted allegations that Berlin’s government is attempting to foster relations with Russia, despite promises to end its reliance on previously cheap Russian energy supplies.

“Germany has the approach of returning to business as usual with Russia and they think this is escalatory,” a diplomat said.

  • MelchiorEnglish
    11·
    4 months ago

    Monitoring them anywhere in the schengen is easier than monitoring them at specific and significantly smaller subset of anywhere (at the borders)?

    Yes! How do you know they are crossing a border in Schengen? There are not permanent border checkpoints and few border patrols. So you have to be lucky to catch them in a random patrol. So you either have to know their locations at all times, hence monitor them anywhere, or you need to reintroduce border checkpoints all across the Schengen Area, which means staffing thousands of km of borders and monitoring the rest of the borders for illegal crossings as well. Obviously that destroys the entire advantage of Schengen in the first place.

    That would be optimal. However if someone objects to solution of lesser intensity, then this optimal one is not likely to succeed, is it?

    Germany expelled so many embassy staff that Russia shut down 4 out of 5 consulats. Italy also kicked out a bunch of diplomatic staff.

    • 14th_cylon@lemm.eeEnglish
      2·
      4 months ago

      Yes! How do you know they are crossing a border in Schengen?

      You know that when you find them on the other side of it. And being on the wrong side of the border is easier to prove than the fact they are going to commit terrorist act.

      So you have to be lucky to catch them in a random patrol.

      Which can happen. It also excludes them from the air travel, for example, so it makes their terrorism harder, which is our goal.

      Germany expelled so many embassy staff that Russia shut down 4 out of 5 consulats. Italy also kicked out a bunch of diplomatic staff.

      Others did as well. And then the fuckers can just freely come from some other country that did not, which is what this discussion is about.

      • MelchiorEnglish
        11·
        4 months ago

        Embassies are used to coordinate spies. The actual terrorists often have had contacts with the embassy spy staff, but they use other passports. So by monitoring the embassy staff, you are able to find the actual terrorist spies. So when you find a Russia diplomat in the wrong country, you start to follow them.