Tracking devices discovered: sloppy spy or diplomatic muscles Russia?

Wijninga can hardly imagine that the Dutch intelligence services therefore sought refuge in electronic tracking equipment: “The homes and cars of military attachés are regularly scanned, so it would be discovered at some point anyway.”

Pieter Cobelens, former director of the Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD), would not be surprised if an electronic tracker was used: “I am not surprised that resources are used. It is just painful. when it comes out. If this is really the case, it’s pretty silly. “

Willemijn Aerdts also says that trackers are commonplace: “It just doesn’t come out in this way very often.”

Guessing

But the question is whether it is really correct, says Peter Wijninga: “Until Russia comes up with tangible evidence, and I mean more than a photo of a tracker, or the Netherlands with an explanation, it remains to be guessed what happened.”

Just some informed guesswork then. According to Aerdts and Wijninga, diplomatic disagreement may also underlie this news, after the hacking attempt by the OPCW that was nipped in the bud in 2018. The MIVD brought that out in quite detail. Not exactly common. Russia has always denied, but it did cause the country to lose face.

Aerdts: “It is quite special that if you went here a year and a half ago to break into an international organization, you are now quite blown away about something like this.” Wijninga thinks this announcement by the Russians could be a form of revenge for the OPCW incident; you catch us, then we catch you: “So they could say: we pay back with the same coin.”

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