Jan Marsalek, the Russian spy who instructed the Bulgarian spy cell in the UK, planned to use private armies to control migration in Europe, reveals the "Daily Telegraph", quoted by the Bulgarian National Radio.
Jan Marsalek, the fugitive boss of disgraced tech company Wirecard, planned to create a gang of 15,000 mercenaries to control borders along the key migration route from Africa through Libya, the newspaper writes. It is said that exploiting the flow of migrants is a key goal of Vladimir Putin, with the issue a major factor in elections across Europe. Marsalek is said to have even bought a private military company and managed to get the first Russian mercenaries into Libya.
The revelations come at a key moment in the war in Ukraine, as Trump is pressuring Zelensky to negotiate peace with Putin.
European leaders have previously warned that the West could see a wave of migrants if Ukraine loses to Russia.
Details of Marsalek's plans were first revealed after UK-based Bulgarian spies were found guilty at the Old Bailey on Friday. It emerged that in addition to Marsalek owning a Russian private army operating in Libya, he also had agreements in Sudan with the "Wagner" group.
Sudan is often called by the EU "the heart of the migration routes" connecting East and West Africa with the Mediterranean and Europe. Mercenaries, including Wagner, fuel migration by increasing instability and violence in parts of Africa under their control and by physically moving migrants to borders with the support of human traffickers, experts said.
According to security sources, Marsalek was involved in reorganizing Wagner interests in the region after the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the notorious mercenary leader, following his failed coup attempt in Russia.