Russian Intelligence Unit 75127 Exposed After Agent Uses Google Translate

An investigation by The Insider and Der Spiegel published on March 15, 2026, exposed a top-secret Russian military intelligence unit designated as Unit 75127, also known as Center 795, after one of its officers was arrested in Colombia in late February 2026. The officer, identified as Denis Alimov, was caught attempting to hire local hitmen — and exposed himself by using Google Translate to communicate with them. The investigation was carried out by a team including Christo Grozev, Roman Dobrokhotov, Michael Weiss, Fidelius Schmidt, and Nikolai Antoniadis. The unit's exposure marks one of the most significant breaches of Russian military intelligence tradecraft in recent years, according to the reporting.

Unit 75127 was established by a Russian General Staff order issued in December 2022 and was formally designated in early 2023, according to the investigation published by The Insider and Der Spiegel. It was created to replace Unit 29155, which had been compromised after a series of high-profile exposures by investigative journalists, including Bellingcat and The Insider. The new unit was designed to continue foreign operations while avoiding the scrutiny that had dismantled its predecessor. Christo Grozev, who leads investigations at The Insider and also writes for Der Spiegel, has previously been instrumental in exposing Russian covert operations in Europe.

Unit 75127 consists of approximately personnel, including hackers, snipers, and spies, according to the investigation. The unit operates under the direct supervision of General Valery Gerasimov, who has served as Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces and First Deputy Minister of Defense since 2012. To conceal its activities, the unit is disguised as a training center embedded within the Kalashnikov Concern arms manufacturer. Its primary missions, as described by the investigation, include sabotage operations, kidnappings, and the assassination of Russian dissidents and opponents of the Kremlin operating on Western soil. The use of a commercial arms company as institutional cover represents a deliberate effort to insulate the unit from standard intelligence oversight channels, according to the reporting.

The arrest of Denis Alimov in Bogota in late February 2026 unraveled the unit's cover. Alimov, referred to in some sources as Denis A., was attempting to recruit local contract killers for an operation when investigators traced his communications, which had been conducted through Google Translate rather than secure channels. The operational error provided investigators with a direct link between Alimov and the broader structure of Unit 75127. The Insider and Der Spiegel jointly published their findings on March 15, 2026, detailing the unit's organizational structure, its chain of command, and the specific mission that led to Alimov's capture. The investigation drew on the Colombia arrest as the entry point into a wider reconstruction of how the unit functions and who directs it. According to Deutsche Welle, the unit hunts opponents of Vladimir Putin residing in the West, carrying out Kremlin-ordered operations under institutional disguise.