Daily Intel Brief
Edward Snowden is granted Russian citizenship, a gunman opened fire in a school in central Russia, and tensions increase between Turkey and Greece...
Counterterrorism
A gunman opened fire in a school in central Russia on Monday, killing 15 people and wounding 24 others before shooting himself dead, authorities said. The shooting took place in School No. 88 in Izhevsk, a city 960 kilometers (600 miles) east of Moscow in the Udmurtia…
Four suspects have been arrested over alleged plans for a terrorist attack in Iceland, say police. Several semi-automatic weapons — some 3D printed — were seized from nine different locations, along with a large quantity of ammunition, computers, telephones and digital…
Military & Defense
A United States aircraft carrier and its accompanying ships have launched joint military exercises with South Korean forces as tensions with North Korea intensify. The drills, which started on Monday off the Korean Peninsula’s east coast with the participation of the nuclear…
Turkey on Monday summoned the Greek ambassador to protest the alleged deployment of dozens of U.S.-made armored vehicles to Greek islands which Ankara says should remain demilitarized in line with international treaties. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned…
Cybersecurity
As protests against military conscription rage inside Russia, the country is planning to continue its offensive into Ukraine with cyberattacks on critical infrastructure. The Odessa Journal reported Ukrainian military intelligence has learned the first cyberattacks will soon…
At least three alleged hacktivist groups working in support of Russian interests are likely doing so in collaboration with state-sponsored cyber threat actors, according to Mandiant. The Google-owned threat intelligence and incident response firm said with moderate confidence…
Counterintelligence & Espionage
Russia said Monday that it had detained a Japanese diplomat based in the eastern city of Vladivostok for soliciting “restricted” information, Russian news agencies reported. “A Japanese diplomat was detained red-handed while receiving, in exchange for financial…
Russia on Monday granted citizenship to former American intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, who fled prosecution after he revealed highly classified U.S. surveillance programs to capture communications and data from around the world. A decree signed Monday by…
Transnational Organized Crime
Turkish police said they detained 12 people in Istanbul, including the suspected killer of Montenegro’s Škaljari clan boss, Jovan Vukotić. Following the assassination of Vukotić on the evening of September 8, when two attackers on a motorcycle opened fire at Vukotić’s car in…
The U.S. government imposed sanctions Monday on a Bosnian state prosecutor who is accused of being complicit in corruption and undermining democratic processes in the Western Balkans. The Treasury Department said its Office of Foreign Assets Control…