Add the Gazzetta del Sud as a source
State secrets contained on the tickets, filmed during meetings in the park, on a bench or in a bar. Moscow’s hybrid war also involves pips in the pocket of a shirt unrolled by a former agent of the Italian services who provided the Russian 007s, hidden behind the cover of a diplomat, with information on intelligence and armaments produced by our country, in exchange for envelopes of four thousand euros in cash: an agreed price for the sale of each of that highly confidential information, obtained through some moles among the soldiers of the cyber defense world.
The espionage system was discovered just over a year ago, after the AISI report, with a counter-espionage operation by the Italian intelligence, which then made use of the investigations of the Carabinieri’s ROS: two former employees of the same internal secret services – retired for at least twelve years – have recently ended up under house arrest for espionage and unauthorized access to computer systems. Five other people, including four soldiers in service until yesterday, are under investigation for various reasons, for “procuring information concerning state security”, “political or military espionage”, “revealing state secrets”, “revealing information whose disclosure has been prohibited”.
According to the investigation, the one who had exclusive contact with the alleged Russian agent, covered by diplomatic immunity, was Gavino Raoul Piras, a 59-year-old Sardinian former member of the Italian intelligence sector and former non-commissioned officer of the force. The investigators’ videos show them flipping pizzini, exchanging cell phones hidden in a microwave or hiding digital memory cards in the crack of a wall in the street. Piras has defined himself as an independent intelligence analyst since the end of his profession, culminating in his 2012 award of the ‘Legion of Merit,’ a US military decoration typically awarded to members of the US Army and allied nations and awarded to him for his work in Afghanistan and Iraq. In his long curriculum he had behind him the production of a series of essays, such as the ‘Theory of information capital,’ or the text produced in 2011 entitled: ‘Intelligence in international relations: the Russian Federation. The training of Piras, originally from Sassari, also includes the NATO school in Oberammergau, Germany, and specific international exercises abroad. A life dedicated to espionage and counter-espionage, which in these hours has had its epilogue with house arrest and a series of searches which also led to the discovery of twenty thousand euros in cash in the possession of one of the suspects. The other former 007 arrested is Vincenzo Di Pasquale, a 59-year-old originally from Matera, also a former AISI member and retired.
Who are the suspects?
The other suspects are Davide Piantanida, 46 years old from Foggia, Gianluca Nardella, 47 years old from Foggia, Giuseppe Tempesta, 55 years old from Bari, Sergio Romeo, 57 years old from Messina, Antonio Guerra, 69 years old from Bari. The alleged Russian agent, who is officially a diplomat and therefore enjoys immunity, remains in Italy at the moment. The Minister of Defense, Guido Crosetto, defines the affair as “the tip of a gigantic iceberg, made up of external enemies and internal traitors who are ready to sell their nation for money or power or personal interest”, for whom “there can be no tolerance towards those who compromise or put the security of the Republic at risk”. And the vice-president of the European Parliament, Pina Picierno, adds: «The good old methods of the KGB are still reality. This is why we need to invest in Defense. Unfortunately the information cold war has never ended.”