Two Russian men, secretly working for the Ukrainian intelligence services, provided rare testimonies about operations in which they claim to participate, targeting military assets and individuals inside Russian territory, as part of a hidden war that goes beyond direct confrontations between the Russian and Ukrainian armies.
The British BBC network presented the testimonies of the two men in a documentary about the hidden world of Russian saboteurs, using two pseudonyms for them: “Ivan” and “Foma.”
"Ivan"... secret missions inside Russian territory
Ivan said he played a role from inside Russia in Ukrainian drone attacks targeting strategic bombers and munitions production facilities.
He explained that his duties included monitoring military sites and identifying places to hide drone components in preparation for possible attacks.
“When these drone components are assembled, they turn into an extremely powerful weapon that, in one fell swoop, can destroy a multi-million-dollar facility,” Ivan adds.
He also sent Marcin Mamun, the journalist who prepared the documentary, a video showing him hiding explosives near a Russian military airport. He asserted that if he had been arrested, he would have faced terrorism charges and been sentenced to decades in prison.
Ivan recounted one of the most dangerous moments he experienced, saying: “The most dangerous situation I faced was when my car was stopped for inspection, while I was carrying homemade explosive devices with me. "The risk was very high, but as you can see, I was not found out."
To reduce the risk of exposure, he explained that “there is no clear organizational structure” for the work, adding that he had never met the people he was working alongside, and did not know their identities.
"Foma"... a secret network to monitor senior officers
Foma lives in exile in Poland, and says he runs a network of secret volunteers inside Russia, monitoring high-ranking officers who Ukrainian military intelligence is considering targeting.
Fuma confirms that these volunteers never participate in carrying out attacks directly.
He said that his network includes about thirty people distributed between Russia, Ukraine, and other European countries, some of whom are responsible for providing logistical support and tracking the digital fingerprints of targeted people.
Foma showed Mamun a database containing the locations of warehouses, military sites, and the residences of generals and pilots who fly strategic bombers bombing Ukraine.
He explained his philosophy on collecting information: “In order to dismantle the system, you have to understand how it works. Then you can target his weaknesses.”
He also revealed that his volunteers were trained via the Internet to monitor military figures, and provided them with files that included pictures of the targets, their personal data, descriptions, and information about their cars.
Foma stressed that the Ukrainian Military Intelligence Service is the one who suggests the targets to be monitored, but he and his team verify themselves whether these individuals are military criminals.
He added: “As a general rule... we also check the data related to that person... and only after that we decide whether we are working or not.”
Foma justified his activity by his desire to hold those responsible for the war in Ukraine accountable, saying: “I want people who commit horrific acts in the name of Putin and Russia in Ukraine to understand that they will pay the price. “I want them to feel afraid.”
Ukraine acknowledges Ivan and Foma's work on its behalf
The General Directorate of Military Intelligence of Ukraine confirmed that Ivan and Foma were working for it, but at the same time acknowledged the difficulty of knowing the full picture of their activities.
When Ivan’s official was asked about the extent of his trust in him, he replied: “I am not sure of anyone, except myself.”
The official also did not rule out the possibility that Ivan was also working for the Russian Federal Security Service, whether willingly or under pressure.
On the other hand, Foma believed that Ivan's ability to travel to and from Russia does not necessarily mean collusion with the authorities, explaining that loopholes within the Russian system may allow some people to move without being detected.
This comes in light of previous reports of sabotage and assassinations targeting military figures inside Russia since the outbreak of the war.
Ukraine has acknowledged the use of secret agents, and has also spoken about coordinated attacks using drones against targets it describes as legitimate, but it does not officially claim responsibility for attacks directed at specific people.
Foma estimated the number of Russians working on subversive missions for Ukraine at about 300 to 500 people, a number that cannot be independently verified. Information indicates that some participants may be unaware of the nature of what they are contributing to, such as truck drivers whose loads are exploited, while others work for money.
Several European governments are facing increasing pressure to contain popular anger, in light of a wave of protests witnessed in countries, including France, Spain, Italy and Portugal, some of which are led by students and young people angry about the decline in the level of education, the high cost of living and the housing crisis.
According to the British newspaper The Guardian, while the reasons for the protests vary from one country to another, the common denominator between them is the increasing pressure on young people and families, and the expansion of demands for concrete measures to improve living conditions and public services. Containing this wave remains dependent on the extent of governments’ ability to transform promises into solutions that respond to the demands of the protesters.
What is happening in Europe?
Protests against education in France extend to the livelihood crisis
In France, high school students clashed with police in sometimes violent protests due to long school hours, a shortage of teachers, dilapidated classrooms, and a university admission system that lacks transparency. Students often miss months of school due to failure to compensate for teachers' absences.
Other demonstrators joined student marches to express their dissatisfaction with the rising costs of living, including fuel prices, which were affected after the US bombing led to the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The General Confederation of Labor, one of the largest unions in France, supported these protests, demanding lower prices, higher pensions, and higher wages.
The housing crisis sparks anger in Spain and Portugal
In Spain, activists took to the streets in September to protest against rising housing prices, after an 87-year-old woman was evicted from her home after an investment fund raised her rent by 230 percent. The woman, Maricarmen Abascal, died two weeks after the incident, after being admitted to the hospital.
The protesters are demanding a reduction in rents, a halt to evictions, and a ban on the purchase of real estate by investment funds.
In Portugal, neighboring Spain, hundreds of people gathered in central Lisbon on Saturday, also demanding that the housing crisis and high costs of living be addressed.
According to official data, housing prices in Portugal rose by 124 percent between 2015 and 2024, a pace nearly twice as high as the average increase in the European Union.
High costs of living in Italy and Belgium
Violent clashes broke out in Milan and other Italian cities, on Saturday, during protests against the high costs of living that were initially peaceful, but were soon marred by riots.
According to the Italian news agency ANSA, on Sunday, masked youths, most of them wearing black clothes, smashed the facades and looted the shops and shopping centers surrounding the central Piazza del Duomo square in Milan. The police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse them, and detained at least 160 people, about 80 percent of whom were minors.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called for a meeting with security officials in her office in Rome, today (Monday).
Belgium also witnessed protest movements linked to the high costs of living, coinciding with the start of similar demonstrations in Italy on Saturday.
Protests against corruption and lack of job opportunities in Albania
Protests in Albania against Prime Minister Edi Rama entered their sixth day on Sunday, amid accusations of corruption and demands for job creation and improved quality of education.
The roots of the moves go back to the summer, when a luxury coastal development project, backed by Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump's son-in-law, raised widespread objections.
Did these protests lead to any changes?
In France, the government announced that it would provide 3,000 additional substitute teachers to address the shortage of educational personnel, and decided to involve students in the decision-making process within schools.
In addition, the government has backed away from its plans to increase some university registration fees, plans it had included in next year's budget.
In another context, the protests that broke out in mid-September against fuel prices led to the Elysee Palace announcing an increase in gasoline subsidies directed to some industrial sectors.
In Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez tried to pass emergency housing legislation aimed at protecting tenants in the real estate market.
The failure to pass this legislation, due to the opposition of right-wing and far-right parties in Parliament, led Sanchez to call for early elections on November 29, justifying this by his need for a “broader progressive majority” to pass new reforms.
12 migrants died while trying to cross the Aegean Sea, including six whose bodies were found after their boat collided with a Greek police vessel, according to what Greek authorities announced Monday.
The Greek Coast Guard stated that among the six victims who died off the island of Lesbos on Monday were an infant and four women. The Coast Guard added that the other six died after a small boat they were on board capsized off the island of Samos, according to what Agence France-Presse reported.
The accident occurred about 3.5 nautical miles south of Agrelia on the Greek island of Lesbos. The Coast Guard reported that rescue teams recovered the bodies of four men, a woman, and an infant, while eight people survived and were taken to hospital.
The authorities arrested a 37-year-old Turkish citizen who was among the survivors, and identified him as the suspected smuggler who was operating the boat.
Greek Maritime Transport Minister Vassilis Kikilias blamed migrant smugglers for these deaths, and said that the evidence so far indicates that the speedboat collided with the bow of the coast guard ship from the left side, adding that the exact circumstances of the accident are under investigation.
He said in a post on the X website: “Our position is non-negotiable. We will never tolerate smugglers.”
Greece has long been a favorite gateway to Europe for migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Between 2015 and 2016, Greece was at the forefront of the migration crisis in Europe, after nearly a million people arrived on its islands, most of them coming from Türkiye.
