Adversary Intelligence — 2026-07-24

Italy Expels Two Russian Military Attachés for Espionage, Russia Retaliates With Expulsions as Spy Network Uncovered

BLUFAdditional expulsions tied to this dispute are unlikely before August 20, with Rome's criminal investigation into the Piras spy network now the primary vector for escalation beyond the closed diplomatic tit-for-tat.

Russia's Foreign Ministry declared Italian Assistant Defense Attaché Vittorio Parrella and embassy official Davide D'Aprile persona non grata on July 20, ordering them and their families to leave within three days, and summoned Italy's chargé d'affaires Giovanni Scopa in Moscow 123. Moscow characterized the move as reciprocal for Italy's earlier expulsion of Russian military attachés Ivan Petrovich Gorbachev and Mikhail Vasilyevich Astakhov, declared persona non grata by Rome over alleged espionage 3. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani called the Russian expulsions "blatant retaliation" and wrote on X that the Russian officers had been "caught red-handed" carrying out espionage against Italian national security 23. Tajani tied the case to a Rome prosecutors' investigation in which Astakhov is alleged to have served as the primary Russian contact for a network including retired Carabinieri officer Gavino Raoul Piras 3.

Analysis
Reciprocal expulsions close this cycle rather than open a new one, and further personnel action tied to the dispute is unlikely before August 20, since Moscow's response tracks the standard pattern of prior expulsion rounds. The Russian move may instead reflect routine diplomatic reciprocity rather than a deliberate hybrid-campaign signal. Rome's parallel criminal investigation into the Piras network, now narrowed to Astakhov as the alleged primary handler, will drive further fallout, with additional arrests or indictments more probable than fresh persona non grata declarations. Confidence is moderate: Interfax alone supplies a primary account of the Russian statement, with other outlets recirculating rather than corroborating it, and there is no visibility into the investigation's next steps. A further expulsion round would signal Moscow intends to escalate beyond the espionage case, prompting Italian and NATO counterintelligence to widen monitoring of Russian diplomatic staff; absent that, those resources stay concentrated on the Piras prosecution.

5 sources