A car bomb exploded in northern Moscow on Wednesday morning. It targeted Andrei Torgashov according to TASS, who they described as a participant in the special military operation, but who Western media claimed is the deputy head of the top-secret 89th Satellite Communications Centre. The suspect was quickly identified as Yevgeny Serebryakov, who fled to Turkiye, was detained, and extradited. Here are the top five takeaways from this incident:
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* Foreign Intel Still Poses A Threat Inside Of Russia
Regardless of whoever Torgashov really is, the fact is that he was specifically targeted by foreign intelligence, which shows that they somehow figured out where he lives. This was either done by having a mole inside of Russia’s security services, hacking their databases, or exploiting whatever information he publicly shared which might have inadvertently led them to his home. No matter how they obtained this information, they were able to act on it, which proves that they still pose a threat inside of Russia.
* The Suspect Was Recruited By Ukraine Via Telegram
Keeping in mind the precedent established from the Crocus terrorist attack case, it was therefore predictable that Serebryakov would tell the FSB after his extradition that he was recruited by Ukraine “via messengers” just like how the aforementioned case’s suspects were recruited via Telegram. TASS also earlier cited investigators who determined that he was part of a criminal group “in which roles were disturbed”, which mirrors the modus operandi of the aforesaid case.
* Yet Another Terrorist Attack Is Connected To Turkiye
Serebryakov was able to enter Turkiye as a tourist, where his handler – who he earlier met in Istanbul – told him to go as the easiest route for escaping from the country, since he wasn’t yet on the international wanted list by then. Russians have short-term visa-free access to Turkiye, and one of the Crocus culprits had also suspiciously visited there shortly before carrying out his terrorist attack. The conclusion is that foreign intelligence agencies are exploiting Turkiye for facilitating their attacks against Russia.
* Russia & Turkiye Swiftly Cooperated To Catch The Suspect
It’s impressive that Russia’s security services promptly identified the suspect, and Turkiye’s deserve praise for cooperating with them to detain him. This speaks to the deep trust that’s been built over the years between their respective services, which is a far cry from when they fought a vicious proxy war against one another in Syria. Despite their geopolitical differences on some sensitive subjects, they’re still able to work together in pursuit of the common good, in this case fighting terrorism.
* More Foreign Intel Attacks Are Expected Inside Of Russia
From the means of recruitment to the way in which the attack was carried out and then the suspect’s speedy escape, all signs point to more foreign intel attacks inside of Russia. That’s not to knock the security services though since it’s a herculean task to preemptively thwart these threats, but just to condition the public to expect more such incidents in the future so that they aren’t surprised. The fact is that this is a new method of Hybrid Warfare that’s very difficult for any targeted state to defend against.
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For as regrettable as it is that this car bomb attack happened, the silver lining is that the suspect was swiftly apprehended with the cooperation of the Turkish security services, thus showing that Ankara has zero-tolerance towards those that take advantage of its territory to facilitate terrorist attacks. More such foreign intel attacks are expected, but they might eventually become more difficult to pull off as Russia learns how to more effectively thwart these threats, though that’ll still take some time.
