Russia’s low-level agents: characteristics, roles and organisational structure of covert operatives in Europe, 2022–2025

Abstract

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Kremlin has increasingly supported its battlefield operations with covert actions against Kyiv’s European supporters. Executing many such actions are the cheap and plentiful ‘low-level agents’ who provide Russia with considerable geographic reach and plausible deniability. Using a new dataset of 145 low-level agents, this study combines descriptive and inferential statistics with social network analysis to explore their demographics, roles, deployment patterns and organisational structure. Findings indicate that low-level agents are predominantly male, in their mid-thirties, drawn disproportionately from Ukrainian, Russian, Moldovan and Bulgarian populations and quite frequently reused. Networks appear structurally hierarchical and compartmentalised and seem designed with plausible deniability in mind. However, inconsistent operational security by Russian intelligence officers limits Moscow’s ability to claim ignorance. The findings provide empirical insights into an ongoing European security threat, informing policy responses and further scholarship.