Beginning in early 2023, two males are being investigated for working with Russian intelligence providers to offer info of a delicate nature, similar to mapping video surveillance techniques within the cities of Milan and Rome.
Two Italian entrepreneurs aged 34 and 60 are accused of allegedly promoting “delicate” info to brokers of the Russian Federation. The 2 are expert expertise professionals and are companions in the identical firm in Brianza.
The general public prosecutor, Alessandro Gobbis, with the deputy accountable for anti-terrorism, Eugenio Fusco, and the Milan prosecutor, Marcello Viola, concluded a preliminary investigation, performed by the Milan Ros, in collaboration with the Cryptocurrency Part of the Carabinieri Antifalsification Financial Command in Rome.
The investigation, wherein AISE, the Italian exterior intelligence company, additionally collaborated, began in April 2024. It picked up tempo earlier than the summer time when the army carried out searches within the houses of the suspects, seizing laptop units and documentation. The entrepreneurs are represented by attorneys Caterina Managò and Ferdinando Mambella.
The crime they’re accused of is “bribery of a citizen by a foreigner”, as beneath Article 270, for the needs of terrorism and subversion.
The alleged Italian spies acted primarily based on ‘political sympathies’
It’s reported that the 2 males acted out of “political sympathies” and ideological inclinations, and supported the Russian trigger because the outbreak of the battle in Ukraine. Their financial motive is, for the second, decreased to single funds of some thousand euro in cryptocurrencies.
Conversations revealed by newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano on Thursday confirmed excerpts of conversations between an Italian-Swiss citizen and his alleged Russian interlocutor, wherein the alleged FSB brokers handed down assignments. Among the many “missions” to be carried out, had been capturing pictures of streets and squares in cities in addition to mapping barracks and army websites. This passed off in Milan and Rome, but in addition in Aviano, identified for its air base utilized by america. They had been additionally requested to put in sprint cams on taxis to observe the actions of topics of curiosity.
Beginning in early 2023, the 2 additionally “collaborated with Russian intelligence providers” to “present info of a delicate nature”, similar to “mapping the video surveillance techniques of the cities of Milan and Rome, paying explicit consideration to ‘gray zones'”, that means areas of town not coated by cameras. In addition they put in sprint cams on taxis, unbeknownst to the taxi drivers themselves.
Biot case: 29-year sentence upheld
The affair of the 2 Italian entrepreneurs recruited from Russia is simply one of many many who have adopted the route from Moscow to Rome, Milan and Naples. Circumstances have included espionage, influencing of opinions and acquiring delicate info stolen from the Italian state.
In one other case on Wednesday, the judges of the primary part of the Courtroom of Cassation handed down a remaining sentence of 29 years and a couple of months for Navy Frigate Captain Walter Biot.
The officer, who was arrested by police on 30 March 2021, was accused of getting bought secret info to a Russian embassy official in trade for cash. He had initially been sentenced to twenty years by one other court docket in January.
