China Is Spying On Russia, Moscow Spy Agency Sees Beijing As ‘The Enemy’: Report

<p>Russian secret intelligence has now started seeing China as the “enemy’ with Beijing increasingly trying to recruit Russian spies and gets its hands on sensitive military technology, a report has said.&nbsp;</p>
<p>FSB, Russia&rsquo;s domestic security agency, has warned that China is a serious threat to Russian security and is recruiting Russian spies to get hands on sensitive Russian military technology, New York Times reported.</p>
<p>The report quoting intelligence officers said that China is spying on the Russian military&rsquo;s operations in the Ukraine War to learn about Western weapons and warfare.</p>
<p>Though Russia and Chinese remain strategic military partners, Lubyanka-based FSB has warned that China remains a secret threat to Russian security.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The Russian spy agency also fear that Chinese academics are also laying the groundwork to make claims on Russian territory.&nbsp;</p>
<p>They also said that Chinese intelligence agents are carrying out espionage in the Arctic using mining firms and university research centers as cover.</p>
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<p>The revelations were mentioned in an 8-page internal FSB report that detailed the Chinese espionage against Russia calling Beijing as &ldquo;the enemy.&rdquo; Though undated, the report is likely to have been written in 2023-end or early 2024, the Times reported.</p>
<p>The document was assessed by multiple Western intelligence agencies, which found it to be authentic.</p>
<p>However, both Beijing and Moscow authorities have not responded to the revelations made in the document, which describes a “tense and dynamically developing” intelligence battle in the shadows between the two friendly nations.</p>
<p>The spy agency report said that soon after the Ukraine War started, officials from Chinese defense firms and institutes linked to Chinese intelligence started flooding into Russia with the goal to better understand the war. It said that the purpose behind espionage in the war was Beijing’s anxiety about how the country would perform against Western weapons in a conflict over Taiwan or the South China Sea.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Though Russia has world-class scientists, but its military has not fought a war since the conflict with Vietnam in 1979. Therefore, Chinese intelligence officials are eager to understand Russia&rsquo;s fight against an army backed by the West.</p>
<p>The FSB document said that Chinese intelligence agents “stepped up efforts to recruit Russian officials, experts, journalists and businesspeople close to power in Moscow.”</p>
<p>In order to counter that, the spy agency instructed its officials to intercept the threat and “prevent the transfer of important strategic information to the Chinese.”</p>
<p>It also warned the Russian citizens closely working with China that Beijing was trying to take advantage of Russia.</p>
<p>The report also revealed that Chinese messaging app WeChat was used to accumulate information and hacked phones of espionage targets.</p>
<p>The FSB reported also suggested Chinese interest in the Wagner mercenary group, which was owned by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose fate remains unknown after his differences with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Wagner group, which operates in several other counties in Africa for years, fought alongside Russian troops in Ukraine.</p>
<p>The report also raised concerns that some academics in China have been promoting territorial claims against Russia, which has been weakened by the war and economic sanctions.</p>