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Syria arrests Assad-era officer convicted in Austria, NordStream2 suspect arrested in Croatia and Israeli mother and daughter missing in Vienna resurface in Argentina

Syria arrests Assad-era officer convicted in Austria, NordStream2 suspect arrested in Croatia and Israeli mother and daughter missing in Vienna resurface in Argentina

This week, the Bern Security Dialogue had to punch back, or punch down, or whatever. Why? Because, if we are as foreign agent-y as they allege, we are "Under Siege". And since Hollywood is the persuasion of this great sensation, metaphorical pyrotechnic car crashes involving multiple stunt persons are engaged. But this is Europe, of course, and Bern hates cars. So we released a strongly worded statement of grave concern instead. Achtung!

The facts stand, "Regardless of the aspersions our detractors might try to cast on our efforts, we remain who we say we are"  and what's more, "Our professional and personal networks and affiliations are not a mystery nor a secret."

To paraphrase and slightly alter for contemporary times something Michelle Obama once said: when they go low, we must remind them they are knocking from below.

Buon Ferragosto and welcome to the Alpine Security Monitor, an official publication of the Bern Security Dialogue. We urge you to subscribe (and become a paid subscriber!) for weekly updates on security and geopolitics as it concerns the Alpine region, namely Austria, Czechia, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland (ok, little Liechtenstein and Monaco too when merited).

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Now for this week's top stories courtesy of Philipp Wolf, philipp.wolf@securitydialogue.org.

 

DAMASCUS, SYRIA – Syria arrests Assad-era officer who fled Austria after conviction

  • Reuters reports Wednesday that "Syrian security forces have arrested" Abu Rukba, "a former ‌Assad-era security officer who fled Austria after being sentenced to eight years in prison for abusing detainees and returned to his hometown in southern Syria".
  • The former security officer was "convicted ​by a Vienna court last month of bodily harm, aggravated coercion and sexual ​assault against detained opponents of former President Bashar al-Assad while he headed the police's criminal investigations department in the northern city of Raqqa more than a decade ago". Earlier in the week, Reuters reported Abu Rukba had left Austria "while appealing against his sentence and returned to Syria earlier this month". Austrian authorities allowed the defendant, who had pleaded not guilty, "to remain at liberty throughout proceedings and while challenging his prison sentence on appeal", ostensibly because ‌"he ⁠was found not to pose a flight risk because he had been living in Austria since 2014 and was seeking asylum there along with his family".
  • After Abu Rukba returned to Syria, "authorities had tracked him down" and had referred him "to the relevant authorities to complete legal procedures ahead of prosecution". It is as yet unclear "what ⁠charges Abu Rukba could face in Syria or whether Austria had requested his arrest or extradition".

 

PULA, CROATIA – Second Nord Stream suspect arrested

  • Reuters reports Wednesday that "a second Ukrainian suspect" German prosecutors "allege was involved in the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline blasts has been arrested ‌in Croatia and will be extradited to Germany".
  • German authorities "identified the second Ukrainian national only as Vladimir Z. in ⁠a statement, adding that he was arrested in the Croatian city of Pula by local police forces who acted on a European arrest ​warrant." In July "the first suspect in the case, former Ukrainian army officer Serhii K., was charged by prosecutors with orchestrating the blasts while acting on behalf of Ukrainian state entities". The defendant "who was arrested in Italy in August 2025 and transferred to Germany in November, has denied any involvement ​in the blasts near the Danish island of Bornholm".
  • The September 2022 Nord Stream explosions have been described by Western officials as "sabotage". The blasts "​damaged the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, a vital route for Russian gas exports to Europe, as well ​as the Nord Stream ⁠2 branch, which had yet to enter service".

 

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA – Israeli women who disappeared in Vienna located

  • Haaretz reports last Friday that "the Israeli mother and daughter who were reported missing in Vienna last week were located in Argentina".
  • Austrian police said the two "left the country of their own accord" and "took deliberate steps to make it difficult to trace them, with the desire to eventually reach South America". The women "tried to erase their tracks because of debt," and prior to "the flight they withdrew 10,000 euros and purchased new cellphones".
  • Earlier last week, the case had "sparked rumors about a possible connection to Bank of Jerusalem" where the mother was a senior employee, causing shares in the Bank of Jerusalem to plunge "amid exceptionally heavy trading". The bank "issued a statement to the stock exchange saying that, following media reports, it had conducted a thorough examination and found no evidence of unusual activity involving the bank's funds, assets or customers' funds". The CEO also released a statement.

 

STUTTGART, GERMANY – Ukrainian arrested by Swiss for spying sentenced in Germany

  • Swissinfo reports Tuesday that "a Ukrainian man who was arrested in Switzerland and extradited to Germany was sentenced on Tuesday to 15 months' imprisonment for espionage".
  • Additionally, "the Stuttgart Court of Appeal acquitted two other Ukrainian defendants". The now convicted man was " arrested in Thurgau, northeastern Switzerland, in spring 2025 and extradited to Germany in December". The German Federal Public Prosecutor's Office accused all three individuals of being "involved in a sabotage plot targeting the transport routes of an express courier service". The Stuttgart Regional Court concluded that while "the three did indeed take part in the dispatch – organised by a 'Russian state body' – of two parcels containing a GPS tracker and car parts", it was, however, "not possible to establish that the defendants had conspired to commit a serious arson offence".
  • The court convicted the Ukrainian arrested in Switzerland because he "had been more deeply involved in the affair". The man is already free, "having served his entire sentence while in pre-trial detention and during his extradition from Switzerland".

 

PARIS, FRANCE – France investigates Russian disinfo ahead of presidential elections

  • France 24 reports Tuesday that "French prosecutors have opened a probe into a suspected Russian disinformation campaign targeting centrist candidates in next year's presidential elections".
  • At issue are "deepfakes and fake video reports posted on social media targeting the main two centrist candidates, the former prime ministers Edouard Philippe and Gabriel Attal". Earlier, authorities investigated "a disinformation campaign against left-wing politician Raphael Glucksmann who has yet to formally declare but is widely expected to stand" for election.
  • Attal's legal team said "judicial authorities are taking seriously the gravity of these digital interference tactics and the need to protect the integrity of the democratic debate they seek to distort". Glucksman offered that, "it is fundamental to state this simple fact: we cannot allow Vladimir Putin's Russia to manipulate the 2027 presidential election — an election that is existential for the French people". And France's digital disinformation watchdog Viginum "attributed the campaign targeting Attal with a 'high degree of confidence' to the pro-Russian 'Matryoshka' network" while the campaigns against Glucksmann and Philippe are believed to come from "another Russian-linked propaganda network" called "Storm-1516".

 

PARIS, FRANCE – France to expel two Iranian diplomats

  • Reuters reports Tuesday that "France will expel two Iranian diplomats in ‌the coming days in response to an incident in July involving two staff of the French embassy in Tehran".
  • France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot wrote in an X post: "I had ​announced that this intolerable act would have consequences. ​And so it has. Two Iranian diplomats in ⁠France will be expelled in the very near ​future."
  • In July, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs "said the two French embassy staff had been detained and physically intimidated by Iranian security services ​in Tehran". Barrot reacted by summoning "the Iranian charge d'affaires in ​Paris in protest". Barrot's recent comments came "one ‌day ⁠after the Iranian ministry said two French embassy employees, who were involved" in the July incident "would not be allowed to return ​to Iran".

 

PARIS, FRANCE – French court blocks social media ban for minors under 15 years of age

  • Politico reports last Friday that "a court in France shot down a bill seeking to ban access to social media for under-15s from September ".
  • The block was issued by "the Constitutional Council, which reviews the constitutionality of French legislation". It said, "the restrictions in the bill disproportionately infringe on minors' right to freedom of expression and communication". The French presidential office reacted with a statement, saying that "the government would not be giving up on the bill" as the ruling represents "a major blow to President Emmanuel Macron" and his "efforts to protect kids on the internet".
  • France's social media ban would constitute a first for European countries. Denmark and Greece also want to introduce age restrictions for social media. A senior Brussels-based attorney advising social media firms, Peter Craddock, said, "the court's judgment may not bode well for other national bans or restrictions coming from the European Commission, since the decision is framed around fundamental rights, which are harmonized across the bloc".

 

PARMA, ITALY – Italy recovers Renaissance paintings stolen from museum

  • Reuters reports last Friday that the "Italian ​police have recovered three paintings by French masters Paul ‌Cézanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Henri Matisse that were stolen from a museum near the northern city of Parma in ​March".
  • Police officers from "Italy's ​cultural heritage protection unit found the works of art in an ⁠apartment in Parma". Authorities have placed "nine Moldovan nationals under investigation" for involvement in the theft.
  • The paintings, worth over €9 million ($10.4 million or 8.5 million Swiss francs), "were taken from the Fondazione Magnani Rocca museum in Mamiano di Traversetolo".

 

Stay safe and keep on rocking in the free world!

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