In the course of her investigation, journalist Angelique Geray managed to study how one becomes a “disposable agent“ of the Kremlin and how these people operate in Germany. A team from the German television channel RTL managed to contact the Russian “sponsors“ and find out how and for what purposes they recruit people in Germany. After the journalist's identity was revealed, she received death threats. In an interview with DW, Angelique Geray shares the results of her investigation.
DW: On TikTok, you presented yourself as a pro-Russian influencer, and you also have several quite provocative videos, including one in a T-shirt with Russian colors and with the Russian flag in hand in front of the Bundestag building. Was this the bait that the “Russian sponsors“ took?
How Russia organizes hybrid warfare
Angelique Geray: The starting point of our investigation was the desire to understand how Russia organizes its hybrid warfare. That is, not only how Russia attacks Europe, but also Germany specifically, using a variety of tools - among them disinformation, espionage, and sabotage. And depending on what goal Russia is pursuing at a given moment, it selects the most appropriate methods for this.
The fictional character we created - the influencer Katya - has nothing to do with the so-called “disposable agents“. We invented the image of 28-year-old Katya, who recently moved to Berlin and just registered on TikTok, to peer into the “disinformation bubble“ and understand how pro-Russian propaganda spreads and who creates it.
We reached the Russian recruiters in a completely different way. About a year ago, during our investigation, we found something like a job vacancy announcement on Telegram - on the channel of a pro-Russian hacking group called NoName0516. It is known for penetrating the systems of companies working with confidential information, disabling small hydroelectric power plants, and gaining access to surveillance cameras for the purpose of collecting data. In the channel of this group, we found a curious ad looking for “volunteers”. The ad was in English and was aimed at people who would like to earn a little money by completing small tasks. It was apparently addressed to residents of Western European countries - France, Italy, Germany.
"He advised me to trample on the NATO flag"
DV: A member of the "Sarah Wagenknecht Union" (SSV) party took the bait with the "influencer". At first, he made it clear that he was connected to the Russian special services, and then he denied everything.
Angelique Geray: Of course, we cannot definitively verify whether what this person told me is true. At first, he gave me advice on how to promote my pro-Russian channel, that is, how to increase my audience with the help of pro-Russian propaganda. He recommended me, for example, to show that I trample on the NATO flag. He himself, by the way, burned the NATO flag in front of the camera, which had a great resonance, as it was extremely provocative.
"They were interested in everything about the German parties"
But I was most interested in whether Russia was supporting people who maintain pro-Russian channels on social networks. But he refused to talk about it on the phone, so we met for dinner. Then he said that he had uploaded a video created with the help of artificial intelligence to the network, with false information about a politician from the Free Democratic Party (FDP) in Germany, who at that time was actively supporting Ukraine. In fact, the video in question was part of a Russian disinformation campaign by the group “Storm 1516". The security services and the German government have unequivocally indicated that Russian intelligence services were involved in this group, and the aim of the campaign was to influence the Bundestag elections – in favor of Russia.
DV: The puppeteers from Russia were interested in German political parties, and especially in the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Did they explain why?
Angelik Geray: Yes, the Russian client wrote to me that he would like me to infiltrate the ranks of the ruling CDU party, because in his opinion, this party was causing the most harm to Russia by advocating for arms supplies to Ukraine. (…) It became clear from the very beginning that they were assigning tasks with minimal, medium and high risk. Those with minimal risk included, for example, purchasing SIM cards, receiving or sending parcels or providing various documents and forms. The Russian clients were interested, for example, in what tax documents in Germany looked like - probably for the purpose of gathering information.
And so - I had a task: I was to infiltrate the ranks of the CDU. For this I received 150 euros per month. The payment was made in bitcoins, that is, in cryptocurrency, in order to hide where the money came from. The clients were particularly interested in various types of confidential documents, i.e. everything that is not publicly available - and above all information from small local party organizations. I got the impression that they were collecting literally everything they could get their hands on in order to cause maximum damage to Germany and the political parties.
"One-day agents" are recruited via Telegram
DW: Do these people suspect what purposes they are being used for?
Angelique Geray: We need to break with the traditional idea of agents as people who undergo years of training in Russia and then leave for Germany with some secret plan. The system of "disposable agents" works differently: these are mainly people who are in a difficult situation, experiencing financial problems and most likely just want to make a quick buck. They are recruited via Telegram, through intermediaries who are also the guarantors.
This is what makes this system so insidious. Because if such an agent is caught or detained, he will never be able to reveal the whole plan, since he does not know who he is actually working for. People who agree to work as "disposable agents" are, of course, taking a very big risk, since at first these tasks seem harmless - to buy a SIM card or take pictures of a building. At first glance, this is harmless, but it can be classified as espionage under Article 99, which is punishable by imprisonment for up to 10 years. (…) The sponsors we contacted communicated with us only through Telegram - this platform, which allows users to hide their identity to a certain extent, is used both for recruiting people and for communication - photos, text messages and videos are sent through it.