Gavino Piras, 59, a former employee of the Italian secret service, was arrested this week on suspicion of passing military information to a Russian officer in Rome. Another former Italian intelligence worker was detained with him.
Defense News reported that Italian police had been watching Mikhail Astakov, a military attache at the Russian embassy and a suspected officer of the GRU, as he met an informant. Court documents say Astakov handed Piras lists of questions at clandestine meetings. In return he collected microSD cards of gathered data from a dead drop in a wall, and paid €4,000 ($4,500) in cash for each package.
What Moscow wanted to know
Many of the requests concerned European help for Ukraine’s defense against missiles and drones. Astakov asked about the European Samp-T system, which has been sent to Kyiv, and about the Michelangelo Dome, an air defense system from the Italian company Leonardo that is due to be tested in Ukraine in November. He also asked about the MBDA CAMM-ER missile, which Ukraine plans to assemble at home.
The list ran wider. A request in September 2025 sought an assessment of strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. Others covered Italy’s plans to buy Storm Shadow missiles, rearmament plans in Italy, the EU and NATO, EU defense priorities, and help for Ukraine in developing long-range missiles. Astakov also wanted details of an underwater drone that Leonardo is testing in La Spezia. In April 2025 he asked about Avio, the Italian engine maker, months before it partnered with the US Army to supply solid-propellant rocket motors.
Piras, according to the court documents, told the attache that British rather than Italian intelligence helps Ukraine carry out long-range strikes on Russian oil facilities. He also reported that Italian specialists examining a Russian T-90 tank did not understand how its mounted machine gun operates on its own, and said he would pass on the answer if they worked it out.
Arrests and expulsions
Investigators say Piras recruited informants inside the Italian military to supply the classified material. Five suspected informants are under investigation. After his arrest on Tuesday, Piras’s lawyer denied that he gave classified information to Russia.
On Thursday the Italian government announced it was expelling two military attaches from the Russian embassy, Astakov among them. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Moscow keeps using hybrid warfare against the West and Italy, and called the activity interference in Italian institutions and national security.
The arrests came as Dutch services, the AIVD and MIVD, reported a separate Russian operation. Hackers linked to the Russian state broke into internet-connected security cameras and home intercoms in NATO countries and Ukraine to watch military transport. The cameras sat along routes used to carry equipment to Kyiv, and the aim was to learn what weapons were moving and in what volumes. “Organizations with IP cameras on these routes have already been warned so they can take action,” the Dutch services said.
Sources
- Italy Arrests Former Intelligence Officer in Russian Spy Ring Investigation
- Italy Dismantles Russian Spy Ring Hunting Ukraine Air Defense Secrets
