Disposable: The ordinary people doing Russia’s dirty work

The Kremlin is recruiting civilians to carry out sabotage across Europe. By LENNART PFAHLER and ARTUR WEIGANDT in Vilnus Illustration by Maksym Filipenko for POLITICO The life Vasilij Kovacs knew ended with a bang. It was late afternoon on March 1, 2025, when an armored vehicle smashed through the metal gate of the old farmhouse where he lived southeast of the Latvian capital, Riga.

Masked men emerged with their guns drawn. They belonged to Latvia’s State Security Service, the country’s counterintelligence agency. The officers searched the property, seizing several mobile phones, SIM cards and documents, along with a pistol with its serial number filed off, a bayonet from an AK-47 and a cellphone jammer, according to a search report later filed by the authorities.

They arrested Kovacs, a Ukrainian man in his 60s who has lived in Latvia for more than 30 years. In March, Kovacs was transferred to stand trial in Lithuania, where he is accused of planning terrorist attacks, alongside four alleged accomplices. Five others face trial in Warsaw.