Fuss about possible Russian spy antennas in Geneva
Published: Monday, Nov 18th 2024, 14:00
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Antennas have apparently been installed on the roofs of the buildings of the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the UN in Geneva without cantonal authorization. The canton is taking the diplomatic route to obtain a statement from the Russian mission.
The case was reported by the French-speaking Swiss television station RTS on Sunday evening in the program "Mise au Point". According to the report, satellite images showed that several parabolic antennas had been installed on the building since 2006. The competent Geneva authority confirmed to the Keystone-SDA news agency on Monday that four antennas had been installed without a permit.
The canton will involve the Swiss mission to the UN by informing it of the suspected installation of antennas without authorization, it said. It will ask them to obtain a statement from the Russian mission. According to RTS, these communication systems are to be used for espionage operations.
Russia does not agree
The Russian embassy firmly rejected the accusations made to RTS. It considers this to be another attempt to arbitrarily demonize Russia and the Russians.
In its 2024 report, the Federal Intelligence Service (FIS), for its part, takes the view that Switzerland continues to be a preferred field of activity for Russian intelligence services. In the 2023 report, the FIS stated that at least a third of Russian diplomatic or administrative staff would work for the secret service, which would correspond to around 70 people.
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