Russia expands assassination plots against dissidents across Europe

Western intelligence officials say Russia has intensified a coordinated campaign to assassinate opponents abroad since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The most detailed case involves Russian activist Vladimir Osechkin, who has lived under police protection in France since 2022 after a suspected surveillance operation in April 2025 at his Biarritz home. Four men born in Dagestan were detained for spying on Osechkin with the aim of killing him and intimidating other Russian critics in France.

Similar plots have been foiled in Lithuania, Germany and Poland, targeting a Lithuanian supporter of Ukraine, the head of a German weapons firm supplying Ukraine, a Ukrainian military official and even a plan to kill President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. A Russian helicopter pilot who defected was killed in Spain, with Russian operatives suspected. Officials described the killings as politically authorized and part of a broader effort to undermine European support for Ukraine, linking them to over 190 acts of sabotage, arson and disruption attributed to Russia across the continent.

The campaign reportedly uses cheap proxies recruited by Russian intelligence services, extending threats beyond traditional military defectors to Russian activists and foreign supporters of Ukraine.