The Belgian city of Brussels is full of spies, especially Russian and Chinese, and the security services even warn diplomats to avoid certain places in the vicinity of the EU institutions, writes the German newspaper "Welt".
According to the Internal Security Department of the European External Action Service (EEAS), "about 250 Chinese and 200 Russian spies are operating in the EU capital," European diplomats told the German newspaper.
Diplomats confirm that they have been warned and that they are avoiding certain places, including a popular restaurant and a cafe near the main building of the European Commission and the headquarters of the EEAS.
According to reports, Russian and Chinese intelligence officers mainly work in their countries' embassies and trade missions.
The newspaper writes that it is an open secret in Brussels that the attachés who accompany diplomats from third countries at receptions in embassies are often secret agents.
In addition to Russian and Chinese agents, American and Moroccan agents are particularly active in Brussels, according to Tanjug, written by Velta.
The German newspaper also recalls a spy case from 15 years ago, when small spy boxes that could be activated from the outside were found in the booths intended for translators in the headquarters of the European Council during the session of the prime ministers and ministers of the member states.
This is how conversations in the German, British, Spanish and French delegations were eavesdropped. It was suspected that the US and Israel were behind it, but the evidence was never found.
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