Russian counterintelligence agents are analyzing data from the popular Chinese messaging and social media app WeChat to monitor people who might be in contact with Chinese spies, according to a Russian intelligence document obtained by The New York Times.
The disclosure highlights the rising level of concern about Chinese influence in Russia as the two countries deepen their relationship. As Russia has become isolated from the West over its war in Ukraine, it has become increasingly reliant on Chinese money, companies and technology. But it has also faced what the document describes as increased Chinese espionage efforts.
The document indicates that the Russian domestic security agency, known as the F.S.B., pulls purloined data into an analytical tool known as “Skopishche” (a Russian word for a mob of people). Information from WeChat is among the data being analyzed, according to the document.
The document offers insights into the espionage tactics of two authoritarian governments that are preoccupied with surveillance.
According to the document, the system processes detailed data on WeChat users, including account logins, contact lists and message archives, some of which are extracted from phones seized from people of interest to Russia’s spy hunters.
The tool is used to scrutinize the data trail of “people using the Chinese messenger WeChat to talk to representatives of the PRC intelligence services,” the document says, using the abbreviation for the People’s Republic of China.
The exact functionality of the system is unclear. It is described in Russian as an automated data processing system that can be used in “search activities.” Intelligence agencies typically use such tools to map messenger and social network connections to spot potential spies.
The document makes clear that the F.S.B. is particularly interested in WeChat.
The Russian security agency asks field officers to send WeChat accounts and logins of interest to the China counterintelligence team, including “lists of contacts (logins) and archives of chats from WeChat obtained during direct access to the smartphones of targets of interest.”
The document says data can be run through another automated system, known as Laretz, a Russian word for a small decorated box, that can check “more than a thousand electronic indicators simultaneously.”
The Times was unable to confirm whether Skopishche had been effective as a counterintelligence tool, or how extensively the F.S.B. could intercept data from WeChat.
One Western intelligence agency told The Times that the information in the document was consistent with what it knew about “Russian penetration of Chinese communications.”
The F.S.B and the Chinese Foreign Ministry did not reply to requests for comment.
WeChat, owned by the Chinese tech giant Tencent, is one of the most widely used digital platforms in the world, mostly concentrated in China and among Chinese communities. It functions as an all-in-one tool that combines messaging, mobile payments, social networking and government services. The app has over 1.4 billion users globally according to Tencent financial disclosures.
Tencent did not reply to a request for comment.
Russian intelligence agencies have worked to penetrate encrypted communication apps like Signal and WhatsApp. The F.S.B. has have long viewed those apps, which are widely used by dissidents, as tools of subversion and foreign influence. In April, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia barred government and bank employees from using foreign messaging apps.
WeChat is different. By design, it does not use end-to-end encryption to protect user data. That is because the Chinese government exercises strict control over the app and relies on its weak security to monitor and censor speech.
Foreign intelligence agencies can exploit that weakness, too.
WeChat added some limited encryption features in 2016, according to Mona Wang, a research fellow at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab. But the security improvements still fall short of the encryption offered by other messaging apps like Signal or WhatsApp.
It is unclear why Chinese intelligence officers would use WeChat to communicate with sources, given its lack of end-to-end encryption. But sources or potential recruits may not know they are communicating with spies, who often pose as diplomats and strike up casual conversations at first.
WeChat was briefly banned in Russia in 2017, but access was restored after Tencent took steps to comply with laws requiring foreign digital platforms above a certain size to register as “organizers of information dissemination.”
The Times confirmed that WeChat is currently licensed by the government to operate in Russia. That license would require Tencent to store user data on Russian servers and to provide access to security agencies upon request.
Russia is separately pursuing a government messaging app of its own, one that has drawn comparisons to WeChat.
Jacob Judah, Paul Mozur, Julian E. Barnes contributed reporting.
Paul Sonne is an international correspondent, focusing on Russia and the varied impacts of President Vladimir V. Putin’s domestic and foreign policies, with a focus on the war against Ukraine.
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