Finland’s security service expects more influencing operations from neighboring Russia after the Nordic country joined NATO, with the Kremlin seen focusing on information gathering in the cyber environment.
(Bloomberg) — Finland’s security service expects more influencing operations from neighboring Russia after the Nordic country joined NATO, with the Kremlin seen focusing on information gathering in the cyber environment.
In an report released annually on security conditions, the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service Supo said that Russia’s operating conditions for human intelligence in Finland have “deteriorated” following the expulsions of its diplomats since the start of its war in Ukraine.
That means Russia is “highly likely” to shift its focus on the cyber environment to collect intelligence, the intelligence agency said on Thursday.
The report comes as Finland is investigating damage to an undersea gas pipeline that connects it with Estonia — another member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization — as potential sabotage, even as its officials have declined to comment on who could be responsible. Supo’s report didn’t address that incident, while it said that the nation’s critical infrastructure increasingly relies on satellite services.
Read More: Finland Sees Pipeline Leak as Likely Caused by Mechanical Force
Russia will “probably strengthen” its countermeasures against Finland as a result of the Nordic country’s accession to NATO, the continuation of the war in Ukraine as well as Russia’s deepening confrontation with the Western nations and growing sanctions, the agency said. Still, NATO membership is expected to provide protection against the “most violent forms of influencing,” Supo said.
The report follows an earlier review in March in which Supo said expulsions of Russians is expected to “significantly” weaken its ability to operate in the Nordic country.
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