A report by Yle's investigative journalism unit MOT has revealed that one third of staff at Russia's embassy in Helsinki are actually intelligence agents.
The findings were confirmed by the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service Supo.
MOT's investigation also led to the discovery of the identity of three Russian agents who had previously worked in Finland.
The three men were officially listed as belonging to embassy staff, but MOT discovered that they actually worked for the Russian foreign intelligence service SVR, the foreign military intelligence agency GRU or the federal security service FSB.
Intelligence agents often work in embassies in roles that do not involve a precisely defined diplomatic mission — which gives them freedom to conduct intelligence activities.
"People operating with diplomatic status will be granted diplomatic immunity, which means they will not be at risk of being subject to any kind of criminal proceedings," explained Detective Chief Inspector Mikko Porvali, who is also the author of several books on espionage.
MOT's probe is part of a wider collaboration between Nordic public broadcasters, in which journalists have uncovered the identities of dozens of Russian spies. A separate collaborative investigation by the broadcasters revealed Russia may be planning sabotage in Nordic maritime districts.
Swedish broadcaster SVT identified 21 Russian agents, with as many as 13 of them having been employed by the Russian Embassy in Stockholm until at least April 2022.
Sweden said on Tuesday that it would expel five Russian diplomats whose activities were found to contravene their diplomatic status.
One spy, three identities
One of the Russian agents identified by Yle is Dmitry Otorochkin, who worked at the embassy in Helsinki from 2014 to 2018. Otorochkin then moved to Denmark to work for the Russian embassy in Copenhagen, but was deported by Danish authorities in the spring of 2022.
According to MOT's findings, Otorotchkin's official position was as the Helsinki embassy's Third Secretary. He also served as Russia's representative to the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, or Helcom.
Yle found three profiles for Otorochkin on the Russian social media service Vkonktate, all under different names. Some of Otorotchkin's photos were removed from the platform in April after Yle submitted a request for comment to the Russian Embassy regarding the suspicious intelligence activities. Yle was unable to reach Otorochkin for comment.
Otorochkin's role within SVR was confirmed by the NGO Dossier Center — which tracks the criminal activity of various people associated with the Kremlin — as well as by Nordic intelligence sources.
"The main method of SVR in the West and elsewhere in the world is long-term and targeted personal intelligence under diplomatic cover. The SVR employs around 13,000-15,000 people," Porvali said.
Finland expels suspected spies
Supo, the Finnish foreign ministry and the Office of the President were not willing to reveal to MOT how many members of the Russian embassy staff had been granted permission to remain in the country, or how many had been expelled.
However, MOT's probe found that two Russian agents — believed to have been secretly working for the foreign military intelligence agency GRU — departed Finland last spring.
One of them is 60-year-old Vladimir Komarov, who served as an advisor in Helsinki until April 2022. In Russian databases, Komarov's address is listed as the headquarters of the GRU in Moscow. Earlier in his career, Komarov also worked for Russia's economic development ministry.
The second expelled agent is Dmitry Dvinjaninov, a 37-year-old who was officially listed as an embassy assistant. Dvinjaninov previously worked at a Russian research institute developing space technology, but according to information from the NGO Dossier Center, his close relative worked for the SVR.
Supo: Russian espionage in Finland "significantly weakened"
During the course of the investigation, a security source told MOT that Supo has intervened on a number of occasions to prevent Russian intelligence agents from reaching out to Finnish agencies.
In these situations, the agent asked the Finnish authority or representative for information or suggested some other form of cooperation.
Finland's security agency said in March that the number of Russian intelligence agents operating in Finland dropped by about half last year. This was driven by Supo's expulsion of Russian intelligence personnel as well as the refusal to issue new visas to others, the agency said in its 2022 yearbook report.
Supo did not say at the time how many Russian spies were believed to be operating in Finland nor how many had been deported, but noted that Russian intelligence activities in Finland had "weakened significantly".
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