Meet SSD: Russia's spy unit leading bombing, assassination bids, and shadow war in the West

In the murky waters of espionage, making waves is a new force that has emerged from Moscow’s intelligence corridors.

This clandestine unit, known as the Department of Special Tasks, has been established by Russia within its own military intelligence apparatus. The department, known better by its acronym, SSD, is tasked with executing covert operations across Europe and North America.

According to Western intelligence officials, the SSD has been involved in a series of attacks, including assassination attempts, sabotage, and efforts to plant incendiary devices on planes, according to a report by Wall Street Journal.

The SSD operates from the headquarters of Russia’s military intelligence agency, within a fortified complex in Moscow known simply as the aquarium.

Set up in 2023, this unit was a response to the growing Western support for Kyiv in the Russia-Ukraine war. SSD has incorporated veterans from some of Russia’s most notorious covert missions in recent years.

Among its known operations, the SSD is suspected of orchestrating the attempted assassination of the chief executive of German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, Armin Papperger, as well as a plan to ignite incendiary devices on DHL cargo planes– all part of Moscow’s wider campaign against the West.

Russia’s shadow operators

The SSD consolidates various elements of Russia’s intelligence services, absorbing parts of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and taking over Unit 29155, which is believed to be responsible for the 2018 poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in the UK.

According to WSJ, Western intelligence officials believe SSD is responsible for assassinations, sabotage, and espionage targeting Western industries, academic institutions, and key military installations.

The unit is overseen by Col. Gen. Andrey Vladimirovich Averyanov and his deputy, Lt. Gen. Ivan Sergeevich Kasianenko.

Averyanov, a veteran of Russia’s wars in Chechnya, is wanted in the Czech Republic for his suspected role in the 2014 explosion at a Czech ammunition depot.

Kasianenko, meanwhile, is believed to have coordinated the Skripal poisoning and has been linked to covert operations in Africa, where the SSD has taken over Wagner paramilitary operations following Yevgeny Prigozhin’s death in 2023.

Attacks across Europe

Intelligence assessments indicate that SSD’s operations have particularly targeted Germany, a country Russia perceives as a weak link in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) due to its reliance on Russian energy and internal political divisions.

The Wall Street Journal reported that SSD operatives set fire to a Berlin factory owned by Diehl, a company supplying Ukraine with weapons. Around the same time, the United States provided intelligence to Germany uncovering a plan to assassinate European arms industry executives.

Other incidents tied to the SSD include an arson attempt on a Polish shopping mall, a bomb explosion in a French hotel, and a failed Russian plot to burn supermarkets and cafes in Ukraine.

In July, incendiary devices were planted on DHL shipments, detonating at transit hubs in Leipzig, Germany, and Birmingham, England.

Intelligence officials suspect these attacks were a test run for future attempts to target North American-bound aircraft.

SSD’s and Russia’s hybrid warfare

Although operating under broad directives from Russian President Vladimir Putin, SSD commanders reportedly do not always require approval for individual missions.

The department’s operations fall within the framework of Moscow’s larger strategy to weaken Nato and disrupt Western stability.

The European Union and the United States have both taken action against SSD operatives, with sanctions and criminal indictments issued against individuals tied to the department.

Western intelligence suggests that SSD activities peaked in the summer of 2024. It has declined in recent months, officials note. It is possible that the downward trend has come as Russia seeks diplomatic leverage with the new Donald Trump administration in the US.

However, security officials warn that this lull does not indicate a shift in Russia’s broader intelligence objectives, as SSD remains an integral part of Moscow’s hybrid warfare playbook.