Russian agents suspected of infiltrating Finnish MPs' homes. Faeces left in one's toilet

Among those who link the incidents to Russia is veteran Finnish politician, MP from the ruling National Coalition Party, Ben Zyskowicz.

“This is a way for Russian intelligence to show that people are being watched, a way to sow confusion and anxiety,” he stated.

According to Finnish Yle, about 20 MPs reported suspicious incidents. No signs of forced entry were found in their homes, and nothing was stolen or damaged. However, the owners noticed open doors, lights left on, and other signs that someone had been in the premises.

In one of the homes, an unknown person left faeces in the toilet.

Such actions could be a kind of "calling card": making the victims understand that special services are capable of unnoticed entry into their homes at any moment.

Russian special services have previously used similar methods against diplomats and journalists. Agents would infiltrate apartments, rearrange personal belongings, open windows, set alarms, and also urinate or leave faeces in toilets.

In 2023, The Wall Street Journal reported that an FSB officer defecated in the suitcase of a high-ranking American official during his trip to Russia.

Former BBC correspondent in Russia Sarah Rainsford also wrote in her memoirs that agents broke into her apartment and left "large excrement" in every toilet.

The Guardian journalist Luke Harding recounted that FSB officers regularly broke into his Moscow apartment. Once they left a sex manual there. In 2011, the journalist was expelled from Russia.

This tactic dates back to the Cold War. The Soviet KGB used "operational psychology" to make people feel vulnerable and doubt their own perception of reality.

Similar methods were widely used by East German Stasi. Its officers could take a painting off the wall, replace one type of tea with another, or leave an unusual object. The goal was not material damage, but psychological pressure.

The incidents have occurred over the past year. Helsinki police are conducting a preliminary investigation.

The investigation comes six months before parliamentary elections — amidst fears that the Kremlin might try to influence them or organize sabotage in the country, which joined NATO after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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