European intelligence agency says which country has the largest number of Russian spies

Russian spies prefer Switzerland. According to the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service, 80 Russian spies have settled in this country, the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung reports.

It is pointed out that this is quite a large number and constitutes a fifth of all Kremlin spies from the pan-European number.

As the edition writes, Switzerland, unlike other European countries, did not expel the so-called Russian diplomats from the country. As a representative of the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs explained in an interview with journalists, the government of the country does not resort to such measures, as specifically these people do not interfere in Swiss politics. In addition, in Geneva they believe that "canalised ties with the Russian Federation should be preserved".

At the same time, he noted that if such cases occur, it is not public.

When Switzerland expels diplomats, it does so for reasons of internal security, and these cases are not reported publicly," he pointed out.

The intelligence community attributes the interest in Switzerland to the location of many international organisations and companies in Geneva and Bern.

Of the approximately 220 people accredited as diplomatic or technical-administrative staff at diplomatic and consular missions in Geneva and Bern, probably a third still work for the Russian intelligence services," the interlocutor told reporters.

We would add that European countries have expelled over the past year about 400 Russian spies who pretended to be diplomats and civilians.

It is also known that there are many Russian citizens suspected of espionage in Austria, Belgium and France.