Is Russian Intelligence Using The French Alps As A Base For European Operations?

NBC: Russian agents planned hit from assassins' lairs in French Alps, say intel officials

Western intelligence agencies tracked up to 15 members of Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU, including 2 who poisoned a defector in London.

WASHINGTON — A group of elite Russian military intelligence officers, including some of those who planned the poisoning of a defector in Britain, have been operating out of picturesque villages in the French Alps, Western intelligence officials tell NBC News.

Confirming a report in France's Le Monde daily that could have been ripped from the pages of a John le Carré spy novel, the officials said European and American intelligence agencies had been tracking up to 15 members of the Russian military intelligence agency known as the GRU who had lived for a time in France. Le Monde published what it said were the names of the officers, some of which had already been published by Bellingcat, an open source investigative group.

Le Monde reported that among the Russians who stayed in France's Haute-Savoie department in the Alps were Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov — the alleged cover names of the two GRU agents accused of carrying out the attack on Skripal. French officials told the newspaper they considered the area to have been the unit's rear base for covert operations in Europe.

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More News On Reports That Russian Intelligence Is Using The French Alps As A Base For European Operations

15 Russian spies used the French Alps 'as a base camp for carrying out covert operations across Europe including Salisbury nerve agent attack' -- Daily Mail
Russia posted GRU agents in French Alps for EU ops — report -- DW
Are the French Alps a hub for a Russian espionage network? -- Euronews
Russian spies used French Alps as 'base camp' for hits on Britain and other countries -- The Telegraph
Red Under the Bed, the Sequel: Western Intelligence Exposes 'Russian Spies' in Europe, Again -- Sputnik