Putin and China linked to Honeytrap plot targeting nuclear secrets

Experts describe it as a coordinated campaign of psychological warfare – one that weaponizes human weakness rather than traditional espionage tools.

“This is not a spy thriller plot – it is happening now,” said a leading Western counterintelligence source.

“Moscow and Beijing use seduction as a weapon. It’s cheaper, harder to detect and often much more powerful than cyber attacks. If you can get someone emotionally hooked, you can get them to hand over just about anything.”

According to officials, Russian intelligence services have revamped the honeytrap programs that once made headlines during the Soviet era — only now they are working hand-in-hand with China’s powerful Ministry of State Security.

The partnership, sources say, is intended to bypass Western firewalls by targeting the people behind them – scientists, engineers and military contractors working on nuclear or AI projects.

Jeff Stoff, a former US national security analyst, warns that America’s rivals are operating in plain sight, saying: ‘The Chinese understand our system and they know how to operate within it with near impunity.

“China is targeting our startups, our academic institutions, our innovators and our Defense Department-funded research projects.

“It’s all intertwined as part of China’s economic warfare strategy – and we haven’t even entered the battlefield yet.”

James Mulvenon, head of intelligence at Pamir Consulting, said: “It’s the Wild West out there.”

He said he was bombarded with LinkedIn requests from “the same type of attractive young Chinese woman” – all desperate to connect with him.

Officials say glamorous women have mysteriously appeared at Western security or technology conferences – and been turned away by security over fears they are spies.

A Western security official described an ongoing case involving a “beautiful” Russian woman who married an American aerospace engineer after graduating from what he called a “Russian soft-power school.”

She now moves in cryptocurrency and defense technology circles, while her husband is “completely unaware that he is married to an asset.”

“These are deep-coverage missions,” said one source. “Agents entrench themselves for years — marrying their targets, building families, and gathering information all the time. It’s disturbing, but it’s very real.”

China’s role, experts say, is equally aggressive. Researchers have found evidence that ‘romantic’ and ‘business’ honeytraps are used interchangeably.

Startups and academic researchers are invited to ‘pitch competitions’ abroad, but their ideas and intellectual property are stolen under the guise of investment appraisals.

One official said: “It’s a counterintelligence nightmare. They’re turning charm and ambition into weapons. This is spying through seduction.”