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A Russian military mission that is in Italy ostensibly to help tackle the coronavirus crisis will be covertly gathering vital intelligence, a British expert warned on Thursday.
The team of more than 100 Russian soldiers, including experts in chemical and biological warfare, arrived in Italy last week, with their equipment stamped with logos reading “From Russia with Love”.
But the mission has raised suspicion in Italian political and military circles, with sources telling the Italian media that “80 per cent” of the equipment the Russians flew in on massive transport planes was “useless” and was being used as a pretext for the intervention.
One of Britain’s foremost experts on chemical and biological warfare said it was very likely the contingent contained military intelligence officers from the GRU, the Russian equivalent of MI6.
They will use the deployment to Italy as an opportunity to gather intelligence on everything from the Italian military to transportation systems, he said.
“It’s like all their Christmases have come at once,” said Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, former commanding officer of the UK’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Regiment. “It would be naïve to think that they are not collecting intelligence. This is an open goal for them.”
He said he found it odd that the Italian government had allowed the deployment to go ahead.
“It’s incongruous that the Russians have been allowed into a Nato country on very superfluous grounds,” he told The Telegraph. The Italians had little need for extra chemical, biological and radiological resources.
“They are leaders in CBRN in Nato and within the EU. They are seen as the gold standard and have strong capability. I don’t think they need a batch of ageing Russian equipment,” said Mr de Bretton-Gordon, who left the British Army in 2012 with the rank of colonel.
The fact that the mission is being led by a general, Sergei Kikot, is also suspicious.
“Usually, for a mission of 100 soldiers or so you would expect a major to be in charge, or at most a colonel. To have a two-star general commanding them seems like overkill.”
With Russia not yet badly affected by the virus, Moscow is taking advantage of the West’s vulnerability.
“The Russians are brilliant at this. While there’s a big noise on your left, you do something on the right because no one is looking.”
Offering help to Italy during the coronavirus emergency was sharply at odds with Moscow’s actions in Syria. “I help to run hospitals in Syria, where they were bombed to smithereens by the Russians. Now they are disinfecting hospitals in Italy. It’s Jekyll and Hyde,” said Mr de Bretton-Gordon, who is now a director of Doctors Under Fire, a charity which works in Syria.
After an agreement was done between Giuseppe Conte, Italy’s prime minister, and Russian president Vladimir Putin, 15 Ilyushin Il-76 military transport planes landed at a military air force base south of Rome.
After unloading their cargo, a convoy of their own trucks flying Russian flags drove north to Lombardy, the worst affected region in Italy.
The dispatch of Russian aid to Italy was widely covered on Russian state television, with each step of the way filmed and broadcast on the main TV channels.
Russia’s defence ministry would not release the full list of the supplies sent to Italy but said they included a mobile lab for testing for viruses, disinfecting equipment and unspecified equipment designed to “help patients with coronavirus.”
The defence ministry issues a daily bulletin about its activities in Italy, recounting how the Russian specialists have helped to disinfect hospitals and nursing homes.
As well as General Kikot, who has worked on responding to anthrax outbreaks, the team is reported to include Colonel Gennady Eremin, an expert in bacteriological warfare who worked on the swine flu crisis, and Colonel Viacheslav Kulish, an expert in biological agent protective gear.
A Kremlin spokesman dismissed reports suggesting that Moscow sent the mission in the hope that Italy would use its influence to get the EU to lift sanctions against Russia.
“There certainly isn’t any discussion of any conditions or hopes or expectations,” Dmitry Peskov said last week.
“Italy does need large amounts of aid, and what Russia is doing is providing the help that we can give. It’s absurd to suggest that we’re hoping for something else in return, that’s not the case.”
Luigi Di Maio, Italy’s foreign minister, has bristled at criticism over accepting help from Russia, saying that in such a critical moment, all assistance is welcome.
The Russians may also be trying to find out more about the deadly nature of Covid-19 in order to better fight the virus in their own country, said Germano Dottori, professor of strategic studies at LUISS University in Rome. “This is a fact-finding mission by Russia,” he said.
