Interestingly, there are very few women among the convicted spies.
Two-thirds of the spies uncovered in European Union countries were recruited by Russia, Polish Radio reports.
In second place is China, followed by Iran.
This is stated in a new report by the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) titled "Spies Among Us: Espionage in Europe." The study covered 70 cases of convicted foreign intelligence agents from 20 EU countries over the period from 2008 to 2024.
According to the report's co-author, FOI expert Dr. Elina Elveborg Lindskog, a new trend is emerging in Europe: "Espionage in Europe is becoming increasingly complex. For example, there is the emergence of disposable spies, used only for specific tasks. It happens that such individuals are unaware of whom they are passing information to and often work for money."
Interestingly, there are very few women among the convicted spies - only four cases. The average age of the uncovered agents is 48 years, but the report includes individuals as young as 21 and as old as 82.
