Chits In Walls, Meets In Park: How Italian Spies Sold NATO Secrets To Russia

Small pieces of paper were exchanged at clandestine meetings in parks and bars. Cell phones were hidden in a microwave, presumably to stop them from giving their location away. Digital memory cards were left in a crack in a street wall in Rome, and envelopes with money were handed over for the state secrets that were leaked.

The exchange seems like the plot of a spy thriller, but these old-school techniques were used by Italy's former spy, Gavino Raoul Piras, to leak state and NATO secrets to his Russian handlers. The 59-year-old retired spy received Euro 4,000 (approximatly Rs 4,36,092) in cash, the agreed-upon price for each highly classified piece of information, after every exchange, according to a report by The Times.

Piras was arrested by Italian authorities this week on charges of spying for Russia after he was filmed, on several occasions over the years, meeting with the a Moscow spy. He was working alongside another former colleague, which emerges from a series of private communications. 

The Money Problem

According to the Italian authorities, the retired Italian intelligence official was not happy with the Euro 4,000 he received in return for secret files. During one of the exchanges filmed by Italian authorities, Piras told Mikhail Astakov, an alleged member of Russia's military intelligence agency and his Moscow handler, that the money was not enough, as he had to pay off his sources inside the Italian military, according to a report by The Times. 

"I don't even have money left over for coffee," he told his contact. 

"You used to take me to lunch. I am fed up -- I am ready to do deals, but you are deadbeats."

Italian authorities believe the secrets passed on to the Russians were staggering and may sound alarm bells in Rome, Brussels, and London.

The arrest warrant, cited by The Times, showed that Piras had accessed a secret file named "1 list MI6," which contained "details of tens of people as operatives with British intelligence."

Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said the mole's arrest was just "the tip of a gigantic iceberg -- a hybrid war waged by external enemies and internal traitors who are ready to sell their nation for cash or power or personal interests".

According to Italian media reports, Piras retired from Italy's intelligence services in 2012. He was one of two former Italian secret agents arrested in the espionage case. At least five of his alleged sources inside the Italian military have been placed under investigation. 

Astakov, the alleged GRU agent based at the Russian embassy in Rome, has immunity from arrest.

What Russia Wants From West

The arrest documents, reported by The Times, showed Piras was allegedly asked for the names of Italian agents surveilling the Russian embassy, including one he said he had trained. Moscow, also reportedly, wanted clarity on how much Rome knew about their agents. 

According to authorities, on one occasion, Piras warned Russians that their spy in Matera, southern Italy, risked being unmasked.

The Italian spy also reportedly told the Russians that Italian analysts were studying the Russian T-90 tank. "They don't understand how the machine gun mounted on it works autonomously. If they manage to steal the secret they will, so be careful," he reportedly told his handler.

Moreover, Piras also told Russians about Italy's work on drone boats and how many Storm Shadow missiles Rome was planning to buy. The Russians also asked him about how much Italians knew about the impact of missile strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities.

The Russians also had an interest in knowing about Ukraine's ability to defend itself from airstrikes and missile attacks. They had asked Piras for information on the Samp/T air defence battery Italy had donated to Kyiv.

The arrests follow the 2021 expulsion of two Russian diplomats, who were accused of paying Walter Biot, an Italian defence official, for Italian and NATO documents.