Italy expelled two Russian embassy officials on July 9, 2026, after accusing them of espionage, including attempts to obtain NATO satellite and geospatial intelligence. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the two military attachés, Ivan Gorbachev and Mikhail Astakhov, had three days to leave Rome, and described the operation as part of a “hybrid weapon” campaign against Italy and the West. Italian news agency ANSA reported the expulsion.
Espionage investigation
The expulsions followed the arrest of two former Italian intelligence officers, who prosecutors and carabinieri said had passed classified national security information to a Russian embassy employee in Rome in exchange for money. The Italian internal intelligence agency AISI discovered that the Russians had recruited the former agents to obtain information about national defense production and to expose the identities of other counterintelligence officers, compromising Italian intelligence operations. Investigators said the information handed over included data on NATO satellite monitoring and space-based geospatial intelligence.
Hybrid warfare warning
Tajani’s statement characterized the Russian activity as a direct threat to Italian national security and to its NATO allies. He said Moscow was conducting systematic intelligence and subversive operations in Italy. The Russian foreign ministry, through state news agency RIA Novosti, said it would respond to the public expulsion of its diplomats.
