Pro-Russian online group chats are recruiting individuals in Belgium to gather information, spread fake news or carry out cyber attacks, according to an undercover investigation by VRT published on Wednesday.
A VRT journalist went undercover for months in a pro-Russian hacker group with more than 8,000 members on the social network Telegram. This group previously paralysed the websites of several Belgian municipalities and other government websites in the run-up to the local elections. Their objective is to target all possible allies of Ukraine.
After a few conversations with the group, the journalist received a first assignment to "place ten stickers in the European Quarter in Brussels." The stickers have anti-Western slogans such as 'No to NATO'. Other assignments include "collect 30 email addresses of Belgian journalists."
The individuals carrying out these assignments receive compensation in cryptocurrency.
Not just in Belgium
These practices also take place abroad, says VRT. A 51-year-old Ukrainian was promised a total of $4,000 for setting fire to a paint factory in Poland and was sentenced to eight years in prison last month.
Belgian State Security's most recent report has also warned about an increase in the use of so-called "disposable agents". NATO and the Belgian Military Intelligence Service (ADIV) are also aware of the phenomenon.
The VRT investigation was carried out in collaboration with the EBU Investigative Journalist Network, with the cooperation of LRT (Lithuania), Yle (Finland), ERR (Estonia), LTV, (Latvia), SVT, (Sweden), KRO-NCRV Pointer (Netherlands), CT (Czechia) and RTVE (Spain).
