An Irish politician was “honeytrapped” by Russian intelligence during the Brexit talks.
The meetings had been arranged in an attempt to undermine relationships between Britain, Ireland and the European Union during Brexit negotiations, reports The Sunday Times.
The politician, who has been nicknamed “Cobalt” by the Sunday Times, had engaged in meetings with Sergey Prokopiev, a Russian spy who worked out of the Russian embassy in Dublin between 2019 and 2022.
It is understood they are still at large in the country’s parliament.
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It comes as loyalist paramilitaries were threatening violence over the 2019 and 2020 Brexit deals, which created a customs border in the Irish Sea, to prevent a land border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.
Security chiefs believe that Cobalt, who has received no payments from the Russians, was recruited as part of a honeytrap operation, where an enemy intelligence officer or agent lures the target into compromising sexual encounters.
Several meetings between a female agent and Cobalt were logged. The agent was monitored entering the state on several occasions for short periods, but no action could be taken as Cobalt was not breaking any law.
The Sunday Times reports the public figure’s internet history, intercepted during travels abroad, played a key role in securing information against him. Cobalt was approached by Irish special branch officers and formally warned that he was being targeted by the Russians. His dismissal of those concerns strengthened their suspicions about his activities.
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Cobalt did not have access to any classified material, therefore he could not be arrested or charged with espionage as he could not disclose any contents to a hostile state.
However, the security services believe he was used as an asset: an easily influenced person who could make introductions, disrupt public debate or air the Kremlin’s views when prompted.
Cobalt remains a person of interest to Irish police intelligence and J2, the military intelligence branch of the Irish defence forces.
Prokopiev was colonel in the GRU Russian military intelligence, worked undercover as a counsellor at the Russian embassy. He was one of four Russian diplomats kicked out of Ireland in 2022 after being identified as undeclared intelligence officers, part of a wave of 600 expulsions of Russian spies across the West after the invasion of Ukraine.
Taoiseach Simon Harris
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Taoiseach Simon Harris said he would not comment on matters of security, but added it should be “no surprise” that Russia was seeking to influence public opinion.
He said: “It shouldn’t come as any surprise to any of us that Russia seeks to influence public opinion, seeks to distort public opinion and is active in relation to that across the world and that Ireland is not immune from that.
“We’ve also seen a very significant increase in that level of activity since the brutal invasion by Russia of Ukraine.
“Gardai and our security services take all of these issues extremely seriously and monitor these issues seriously, and work with international counterparts on all these matters, and I have great confidence in the ability of gardai, working with international counterparts.”
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