Russian embassies in most countries around the world differ from diplomatic missions of other countries in their inexplicably bloated staff and resemble military garrisons more than diplomatic missions.
This practice was also observed during the Soviet era, when the main task of Soviet embassies was not diplomatic work, but espionage, the creation of agent networks, the recruitment of agents, and sabotage. In this respect, nothing has changed in modern Russia since Soviet times.
After Russia launched its full-scale aggression against Ukraine in 2022, European capitals declared hundreds of Russian «diplomats» known to be involved in espionage persona non grata. The mass expulsion of Russian special services representatives sharply reduced Moscow’s ability to conduct covert operations in the EU. However, this did not affect Cyprus.
Since the invasion of Ukraine, the authorities of the Republic of Cyprus have not expelled a single Russian diplomat. Moreover, the staff of the Russian Embassy in Nicosia has only grown, mainly due to the addition of technical personnel. According to experts from the CENTER FOR INVESTIGATION AND RESEARCH (CIR), under the control of FSB Lieutenant General Murat Zyazikov, acting in the Republic of Cyprus under the guise of Russian ambassador, the diplomatic mission officially has 41 employees, of whom at least 80% are career officers of the Russian special services — the FSB, the SVR, and the GRU. This does not include technical personnel and numerous service staff, who are also either special services employees or agents recruited by them. This is despite the fact that Cyprus has a population of only one million. At the same time, the Cypriot embassy in Russia, with a population of 140 million, employs only five diplomats, including the ambassador.
Such a large difference in the number of employees at the embassies of Cyprus and Russia has arisen due to the different tasks of the diplomatic missions of these countries. If Cypriot diplomats are really involved in foreign policy issues, then Russian diplomats, as in the days of the USSR, are mostly intelligence agents in disguise. Their real job is espionage, sabotage, disinformation, recruitment, influence, destabilization of the situation in the host country, and control over assets.
There is nothing fundamentally new in this practice; the same thing happened in the Soviet era. John Barron wrote in his 1974 book, The KGB: The Work of Soviet Secret Agents:
«Because the KGB fills many Soviet embassies with so many of its own personnel, their staff is bloated to absurd proportions and completely out of proportion to the normal needs of diplomatic activity. In 1971, there were five Mexicans with diplomatic immunity in Moscow and sixty Soviet representatives with diplomatic immunity in Mexico City. Or 108 Americans in Moscow and 189 Soviet representatives with diplomatic immunity in Washington. In 1971, there were two Lebanese in Moscow and thirty-one Russians in Beirut; four Danes in Moscow and thirty-one Russians in Copenhagen; five Norwegians in Moscow and twenty-five Russians in Oslo; twenty West Germans in Moscow and fifty Russians in Bonn. The total number of diplomats accredited in Moscow from eighty-seven non-communist countries was 809, while the number of Soviet diplomats accredited in those same countries was 1,769.
The same predominance of KGB personnel can be seen in the Soviet delegation to the UN and among the 207 Soviet nationals working in the UN Secretariat in New York. A fascinating top-secret textbook obtained by Western intelligence at the Higher Intelligence School No. 101 near Moscow emphasizes the value of the United Nations as a secret base. A KGB textbook entitled «Practical Recruitment of Americans in the United States and Third World Countries» states: «In the United States, in addition to the usual camouflage, we use international organizations. The most important of these is the UN and its specialized agencies.»
This practice is still used by Moscow today.
A special role in Cyprus is played by a representative of the 5th Service of the FSB of the Russian Federation — the Department of Operational Information and International Relations, created in the early 2000s during the reform of the FSB. Officially, this structure is responsible for «liaison with foreign special services.» In practice, however, the 5th Service is an instrument of political warfare and expansion, created to ensure control over the post-Soviet space and undermine the sovereignty of neighbouring countries.
Before the invasion of Ukraine, it was officers of the 5th Service of the FSB who oversaw politicians, organizations, and media outlets loyal to the Kremlin within the country. Inaccurate intelligence gathered by this unit about alleged widespread support for the military invasion among the Ukrainian population, on the basis of which the Russian leadership decided to invade Ukraine, became one of the factors in the catastrophic failure of the Kremlin’s blitzkrieg and the protracted war.
Today, officers of this service are actively working not only in the former republics of the USSR, but also in EU countries, including Cyprus.
The key executor of the will of the FSB resident in Cyprus and, concurrently, the Russian ambassador to the island, is the second-in-command of the Russian diplomatic mission, an officer of the 5th FSB service, Erkin Topoev, acting under the diplomatic cover of counsellor to the Russian Embassy in Nicosia. He is the coordinator of the Russian agent network on the island, the man through whom General Zyazikov receives operational information, gives orders, and oversees the recruitment of new agents.
Erkin Topoev was born in Moscow in 1983 into the family of Kyrgyz General Esen Topoev, a former Kyrgyz defense minister with close ties to Moscow. Erkin himself graduated from the Moscow Suvorov Military School in 2000, obtained Russian citizenship in 2001, then graduated from the FSB Academy and was seconded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he began his career in intelligence. He worked under diplomatic cover in France, Greece, and Kazakhstan.
A few months ago, Erkin Topoev appeared in Cyprus in a high diplomatic rank. He is responsible for recruiting and working with particularly valuable agents. In addition, Topoev oversees the Cypriot cluster in projects in Kyrgyzstan, which the Kremlin is implementing through Russian businesses in Cyprus. It is curious that in the first months of this year, coinciding with Topoev’s arrival in Cyprus, a number of Russian businessmen and bankers with Cypriot citizenship began actively investing in development projects in Bishkek, building hotels on Lake Issyk-Kul, and opening banks in Kyrgyzstan focused on serving corporate clients.
It is obvious that the sudden investment fever of «Russian Cypriots» in Kyrgyzstan is linked to the arrival in Nicosia of Erkin Topoev, who is responsible for coordinating the Kremlin’s operations in Kyrgyzstan through Russian businesses in Cyprus.
Cyprus is not prepared to counter Moscow’s hybrid threats, making it an ideal location for Russian special services and the agent networks they have created. Russia has long turned the island into its intelligence center, from where it conducts espionage, sabotage, and disinformation operations against Europe. From here, it coordinates interference not only in the internal affairs of Cyprus itself, but also in other EU countries.
Despite sanctions, some of the Kremlin oligarchs’ assets are still hidden in Cypriot trusts, financial structures, and schemes disguised as legitimate businesses. Cyprus is a gateway through which the Kremlin circumvents sanctions and smoothly pumps billions to finance not only the war in Ukraine, but also hybrid operations against the entire democratic West.
Joseph Bronstein
Read more on this topic:
“Golden Flight” of a Russian Cypriot: Alexey Gubarev’s Corrupt Schemes in Kyrgyzstan