A little-known Russian spy agency left feces in the suitcases of diplomats as its calling card, report says

• A mysterious Russian spy agency left unsettling calling cards for US targets, the Journal reported.
• These calling cards have included burned cigarettes on toilet seats and feces in a suitcase.

A mysterious Russian spy agency known to only a handful of experts — and likely responsible for detaining at least three Americans — leaves bizarre calling cards to taunt American targets, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The Russian Department for Counterintelligence Operations, or DKRO, is a secretive organization that operates under the FSB, Russia's security agency. The American intelligence community has watched the DKRO with growing concern in recent years and now believes they were responsible for the arrest of journalist Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Those familiar with the group's activity told the Journal that DKRO agents often taunt their targets by leaving various clues that they are watching: A burned cigarette on a toilet, for instance, or unflushed feces in a toilet. DKRO agents have also left feces in a diplomat's suitcase, the Journal reported.

Experts say the group may be connected to a series of strange incidents in recent years, such as inexplicable flat tires on embassy cars and the suspicious death of a diplomat's dog.

"They're very, very smart on the America target. They've been doing this a long time. They know us extremely well," Dan Hoffman, a former Central Intelligence Agency station chief in Moscow, told the Journal. "They do their job extremely well, they're ruthless about doing their job, and they're not constrained by any resources."

American officials told the Wall Street Journal the DKRO was likely behind the arrest of Gershkovich, who has now been imprisoned in Russia for more than 100 days. Gershkovich's arrest marks the first time an American reporter has faced espionage charges in Russia since the Cold War, according to the Journal.

Experts also believe the group was behind the detainment of Paul Whelan and Trevor Reed, two former American Marines. Whelan has been detained since 2018. Russian officials arrested Reed in 2019 but released him during an April 2022 prisoner swap.