Each package of information cost €4,000 ($4,600) in cash, Italian investigators say. That was the price a Russian military attaché in Rome allegedly paid for secrets about the air defense systems Western countries are sending to Ukraine. Defense News reported the case on July 10.
Police filmed and wiretapped the man, named in court documents as Mikhail Astakov, as he met Gavino Piras, 59, a former member of Italy’s secret service. Investigators accuse Astakov of being an officer of the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency. Piras was arrested on Tuesday along with a second former Italian intelligence official. He is accused of using cash from Astakov to recruit informants in the Italian military. Five of them are under investigation.
Handoffs in a wall
Court documents seen by Defense News allege that Astakov gave Piras lists of information requests from his superiors at secret meetings. Data came back on microSD cards left in a hole in a wall for collection. In the transcripts Piras tells him: “All that I can give you, I will give you, tell your boss that.”
The requests were specific. Astakov pressed for details on Europe’s Samp-T air defense system, which Italy and France have supplied to Ukraine, and Piras refers to data about the battery that he had passed over. He also asked about the MBDA CAMM-ER missile, which Ukraine is in talks to assemble, and about Leonardo’s planned Michelangelo Dome. That system is built with open architecture so partner countries can link existing assets, and Leonardo management has said it will be trialed in Ukraine in November.
A note delivered in September 2025 went wider. It asked about the “Efficiency of attacks on Iranian nuclear structures, damage to the program, prospects of work restarting,” Italy’s plans to buy Storm Shadow missiles, rearmament plans for Italy, the EU and NATO, and “Help for Ukraine to build long distance missiles.” Astakov also asked about a Leonardo sub-sea drone he said was being tested in La Spezia. In April 2025 he requested information on Avio, the Italian propulsion firm that had partnered with the US Army months earlier to supply missile solid rocket motors.
What Piras said
According to the transcripts, Piras told Astakov that British, not Italian, intelligence is helping Ukraine in its long-range strikes on Russian oil facilities. He also claimed Italian experts were studying the Russian T90 tank. “They don’t understand how the machine gun mounted on it works autonomously. If they manage to steal the secret they will, so be careful,” he said.
After the arrest, Piras’s lawyer denied that he had passed any classified information to Russia.
On Thursday the Italian government announced it was expelling two Russian military attaches at the embassy, Astakov among them. Foreign minister Antonio Tajani said: “Moscow continues to use hybrid warfare to attack the West and Italy. This is serious and unacceptable interference in Italian institutions and national security.”
Sources
- Italy busts Russian spy ring collecting data on Ukrainian air defense vulnerabilities
- Italy busts Russian spy ring collecting data on Ukrainian air defense vulnerabilities
