STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) — Russia's intelligence agencies have grown more aggressive in their efforts to steal Western technology and defense secrets as sanctions squeeze the country's wartime economy, three senior European intelligence officials told The Associated Press.
Moscow's agents are building fake companies, recruiting middlemen and deploying cyber spies and hackers who are gathering information that could also be used to attack key infrastructure, they said.
Four years of international sanctions have hampered Moscow's ability to procure machinery, technology and research from Europe, while the grinding war in Ukraine has taxed key industries and pushed the country toward a potential financial crisis.
“They really know what they need,” and are putting “serious effort” into acquiring advanced machine tools, factory equipment, research and dual-use technology, said Christoffer Wedelin, deputy head of operations at the Swedish Security Service.
In Sweden, Russia is targeting the defense industry and high-end research on the country's most advanced weaponry, such as the Gripen fighter jet, Wedelin said. It is also trying to procure camera and laser technology developed for civilian purposes that could be integrated into Russian weapons systems, he said.
Moscow is also trying to steal technology to help it keep pace — or give it an edge — against the West in the decades ahead, said Juha Martelius, the director of Finland’s Security and Intelligence Service.
“We're talking about space technology, quantum ... arctic technology, marine technology,” he said, adding that space technology is something Russia needs “right now," without elaborating. Countries use such technology for satellite imaging, communications and navigation.
Russia also needs sanctioned computer technology and software updates for machine tools, Martelius said.
On Wednesday, Anne Keast-Butler, the director of the U.K’s signals intelligence agency, accused Russia of “relentlessly targeting” the U.K. and its European allies, by stealing technology and plotting sabotage and assassination attempts.
In May, Swedish police arrested two people on suspicion of violating sanctions relating to a company in Turkey that has made dozens of shipments of metalworking and metal-turning machine tools to Russia.
As the schemes to acquire technology grow more complex, companies need to be more aware they could unwittingly become part of Russia's war supply chain, Wedelin said.
“All of the security and intelligence services in Russia are helping out on the state’s efforts to get this," he said.
Moscow is also deploying cyberattacks against European firms and critical infrastructure in an attempt to gather information, which it could exploit “when they get the chance and when it serves their purpose,” Wedelin said. He pointed to an attack on a Swedish power plant last year.
Russia-linked actors tried to “destroy” the plant but failed because the system detected the intrusion, Wedelin said. He said the attack was partly aimed at undermining Western support for Ukraine.
Before then, Sweden's security services had mostly observed reconnaissance for potential attacks, intelligence gathering or activity linked to cybercriminals. The attack marked a “switch” in Russia's modus operandi, Wedelin said.
“They’re no longer caring as much about potential attribution after their activities, so they are taking greater risks to achieve their goals,” he said.
Russia's increasingly aggressive tactics may reflect mounting internal concerns about its economy, which “is not doing well at all,” said Kaupo Rosin, the head of Estonia’s Foreign Intelligence Service.
About a third of Russia's gross domestic product currently goes to the war effort, Martelius said. The war and ensuing sanctions have slowed growth and fueled stubborn inflation.
Russian officials planned to have a budget deficit of 3.7 trillion rubles ($52.1 billion) for the whole of 2026 and had already reached about 3.4 trillion rubles ($47.9 billion) by the end of February, Rosin said.
The Iran war that erupted on Feb. 28 has provided a boost by causing oil prices to soar. The U.S. has granted sanctions waivers for the sale of Russian oil and the U.K. watered down its sanctions in an attempt to lower global fuel costs.
Increased revenue since then has likely improved Russia’s budget, but “it doesn’t save them,” Rosin said, adding that if Western pressure persists, Moscow could face a financial crisis toward the end of the year.
Rosin said intelligence seen by his agency shows a gloomier outlook among Russian officials over the past six months, with the narrative of “total victory” in Ukraine having vanished. Keast-Butler, of British intelligence, said almost 500,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine since the full-scale invasion in 2022.
Russia and Ukraine have mostly kept their combat casualty figures under wraps.
Stalled progress on the battlefield and economic woes have many Russian officials privately asking “what is this all for,” Rosin said, citing the intelligence reports.
Martelius, of Finland's intelligence service, said that while some reports on the war in Ukraine may have been “sanitized” before reaching President Vladimir Putin's desk, he believes the Russian leader has a fairly clear picture of the economic challenges.
But that does not mean there will be political change.
It is “very dangerous ... to start analyzing Russia as if it is some country like ours," Martelius said. “It is not.”
Ukrainian servicemen of the Cerberus Ground Unmanned Systems Company of the 60th Separate Mechanized Brigade, Third Army Corps, conduct a drill with a combat ground drone during a training at the polygon in Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)
Director of GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters), Anne Keast-Butler, delivers her inaugural annual lecture in Bletchley, England, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (Jacob King/PA via AP, Pool)
FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, attends a meeting with senior military officers as Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, fourth left, sits near at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Dec. 29, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Rescuers rushed Monday to reach workers believed to be trapped in tunnels at hydropower sites buried in mud after catastrophic flooding in Nepal and China, as the death toll continued to rise and increasingly desperate families search for their loved ones.
The combined deaths in Nepal and China surpassed 900, with more than 4,700 people missing, and a private-sector association representing power companies said at least 900 workers have been unaccounted for from 12 hydropower projects damaged by the floods in Nepal’s Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts.
Mohan Kumar Dangi, president of the Independent Power Producers’ Association, Nepal, or IPPAN, said there’s an estimation of at least 500 of the 900 missing workers trapped in the tunnels, although authorities have provided varying numbers and said several foreign teams were assisting Nepali rescuers.
At least one expert said the tunnels offered enough space for people to take refuge and that some workers could have access to oxygen. But others warned that the chances of finding survivors were diminishing.
Dangi said some workers had managed to make contact and call for help when the disaster struck last Wednesday, and some others who managed to flee reported to authorities and relatives that many of their colleagues were still in the tunnels. But he said that, six days after the disaster, fears grew that some might have suffocated.
“We are working in search and rescue of the stranded people from hills, settlements and river areas,” said Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet, Nepal’s army spokesman.
Nepal’s disaster agency said Monday that 903 deaths had been counted in that country, with 4,247 people, including 592 foreigners, missing. As of Sunday, Chinese authorities reported 16 deaths and 546 missing, and Chinese state media said 261 of the missing were foreigners, including over a hundred Nepalis.
Workers shoveling mud from a flood-ravaged power station in Dhading, Nepal, told The Associated Press that the station is a key node for providing power to over 20,000 people in the region. The workers cleaning the power station said they hope that it is not rebuilt near the river.
Rescue efforts are focused on people trapped in the gigantic tunnels built for controlling the waterflow to produce hydropower.
“The tunnels are built to access hydropower infrastructure and to divert water — an essential step to generate energy. These tunnels are big enough to drive trucks through,” said Jakob Steiner, a geoscientist at the University of Graz in Austria, who is currently based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. “There is enough place for people to take refuge safely inside and from what we understand they have managed to get oxygen to some of those stuck inside and are trying to rescue them now. It’s a race for time though as people need food and water."
In the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project, in the hard-hit Rasuwa district, at least 576 were missing, Dangi said, adding that around 300 of them were believed to be trapped inside the project’s tunnel. Rescuers have been trying to find survivors for days, working through the rain.
On the Chinese side, rescue and recovery efforts included rebuilding the road leading to Gyirong Port at the border between China and Nepal.
Trucks carried giant rocks as workers tried to repave a portion of the road, state broadcaster CCTV showed Monday, next to rapidly rushing waters, which have been made more powerful by rains in the past couple of days. The road is now under some 2 to 3 meters (6.6 to 9.8 feet) of water, hampering rescuers' ability to reach the border. The repaving effort was just a little over a kilometer (.62 miles) from the border, CCTV said.
Although some rescue teams have managed to reach the border, that represented only a portion of the force.
Chinese state media coverage has focused largely on the official response, highlighting the deployment of firefighters, the People's Liberation Army as well as the instructions from top leaders. Little is known about victims on the Chinese side.
Two days after the disaster, Maraval Nagappan traveled to Nepal to search for his son, who was among the missing. He visited rescue centers and morgues and went as far as 40 kilometers (25 miles) from where his son was believed to have been, but found no sign of him.
His son, Sathya Narayan had been leading a group of 49 Indian devotees who were returning from Mount Kailash — a sacred site in southwestern Tibet. The group has been missing since floodwaters swept through a Chinese immigration complex where they were waiting to cross into Nepal.
Nagappan, who owns the Chennai-based travel company that organized their pilgrimage, and said the group had been expected to complete immigration formalities and leave for Nepal within about two hours. Instead of making the crossing, they were caught in the flood, Nagappan said.
The pilgrimage had begun Aug. 14. “I haven’t heard from my son since then. I don’t know whether he is alive or dead,” he told AP, but he said he hadn't given up on hearing from his son.
Surveillance footage showed water surging through the immigration complex at the border as people scrambled to escape. Nagappan said some of those seen fleeing were members of his son’s group and were identified by the clothes they were wearing.
Wednesday’s flash floods started after a glacial collapse high in the Himalayan region. Scientists who studied satellite images said bedrock underneath a glacier high in the Himalayan region had collapsed, taking part of the glacier with it. The rockfall was so extreme that it registered as a magnitude 5.2 seismic event.
The rocks and melted water then swelled the rivers in the valleys below, causing a torrent of water that swept buildings, bridges and earth downstream in Tibet and Nepal.
Wu reported from Bangkok. Associated Press writers Aijaz Hussain, Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi, Victoria Milko in Dhading, Nepal, and Sibi Arasu in Bengaluru, India, contributed to this report.
Private and military helicopters are deployed to rescue people stranded in areas cut off by flash flooding in Nepal's Nuwakot district, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
Relatives console Muna Khadka, center, who lost her son Aayush Khada, in flash floods, during mass burials in Chitwan, Nepal, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Rescuers arrive at a village affected by flash flooding in Nepal's Nuwakot district, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
A drone view shows a major section of Pasang Lhamu highway washed away along swollen Trishuli river by recent flash floods cutting off Rasuwa district from Nuwakot area, Nepal, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
A drone view of the aftermath of flash flooding along the Trishuli river amidst fresh water surge warning in the Trishuli Bazaar area of Nuwakot district, Nepal, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
A drone view shows a major section of Pasang Lhamu highway washed away along swollen Trishuli river by recent flash floods cutting off Rasuwa district from Nuwakot area, Nepal, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
