Berliner Tageblatt - Italy expels two Russian diplomats accused of spying: minister

The expulsions came two days after police announced the arrest of two former Italian intelligence agents who media reports said gave Russia secrets on military aid to Ukraine.

"The Italian government has decided to expel two military attaches from the embassy of the Russian Federation in Italy, involved in espionage activities uncovered by the Rome public prosecutor’s office," Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani wrote on X.

The minister named the Russians as Ivan Petrovich Gorbachev and Mikhail Vasilyevich Astakhov and said they had been ordered to leave within three days.

"Moscow continues to use hybrid warfare to attack the West and Italy -- acts of interference that are serious and unacceptable to Italian institutions and national security," Tajani commented.

Rome police said on Tuesday that one of the detained Italians, a 59-year-old former agent, had been paid by a Russian handler and "disclosed to him information of interest through six sources -- including four serving military personnel assigned to posts marked by a high level of confidentiality."

Media reports said the Italians had handed over information on an Italian-French air defence system, the SAMP/T, and Aster missiles that were to be provided to Ukraine this year to be tested.

Russian handlers had also sought details on a NATO mission in Bulgaria and the Italian company Avio that makes motors for drones and supersonic missiles.

Corriere della Sera newspaper said the 59-year-old also provided the identities of Italian counter-espionage agents who were meant to monitor the Russians.

Quoting a recording of the suspect's telephone conversations, La Stampa newspaper said the man gave "thousands" of items of information over a 12-year period.

A lawyer for the former Italian spy denied there had been any treason, asserting that the man, who was to be formally questioned on Friday, had only gathered publicly available information.

Italy's Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said on Tuesday that the case was "just the tip of the iceberg" in Russia's so-called "hybrid war" in Europe as it pursues its invasion of Ukraine.

No details have been made public on the identity or accusations against the second Italian agent in the case.

In 2024, an Italian court jailed a navy captain caught selling classified documents to the Russian embassy three years earlier. Italy expelled two Russian officials then and Moscow expelled an Italian diplomat in retaliation.

Y.Bouchard--BTB