Russias GRU military intelligence firm is believed of directing partners of a St.

Petersburg-based white supremacist militant group to carry out a current letter bomb project in Spain, The New York Times reported Sunday, citing unnamed U.S.

officials.Six letter bombs were sent out to prominent government, military and diplomatic targets in Spain in late November and early December, prompting authorities to step up security and re-commit assistance for Ukraine in its war versus getting into Russian forces.

According to the NYT, Spanish investigators who worked with U.S.

and U.K.

counterparts think the GRUs Moscow-based 161st Special Purpose Specialist Training Center utilized the Russian Imperial Movement, an extreme group with members and associates throughout Europe, as a proxy in the campaign.The United States branded the Russian Imperial Movement, which runs military-style training centers in St.

Petersburg, as a terrorist group in 2020.

The classification marked the very first time a white supremacist organization was labeled a terrorist group.

The apparent objective of the project was to indicate that Russia and its proxies could carry out terrorist strikes across Europe, the paper composed, mentioning unnamed U.S.

authorities.

The ability to use the Russian Imperial Movement as an at some point proxy force is useful to Russian intelligence, particularly because that makes it more difficult for rival nations to attribute actions to the Russian government, it added.While Moscow is not believed to be ready to perform widespread hidden attacks or sabotage in Europe, U.S.

authorities warn that this might change if Russia continues to suffer major problems in Ukraine.The Kremlins level of involvement in the letter bomb project is unclear.Though the Russian Imperial Movement has criticized the Kremlins war effort in Ukraine and accused President Vladimir Putin of corruption, the NYT said the GRU has actually still been able to affect its operations due to their shared anti-Western views.U.S.

intelligence and counterterrorism authorities have stepped up analysis of the Russian Imperial Movement, flagging believed leaders and members on updated terrorist watch lists.