Russian personnel with links to the country’s military and security services have engaged in spying in European waters while working covertly on ships carrying Russian oil, Western and Ukrainian intelligence sources exclusively told CNN.

The move comes days after a deal with Washington that lifted U.S. sanctions against the Belarusian potash industries, a key source of export earnings.

China buys Russian oil and gas at steep discounts while supplying Moscow with machinery and electronics as Western sanctions tighten.

The Associated Press has documented 145 incidents in what Western officials say is a campaign of disruption across Europe masterminded by Russia since President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in

But part is because Ukraine is keeping secret the methods it hopes will help it regain a winning edge elsewhere. Participants refuse to say how they circumvented the all-seeing eyes and kill-zones of the modern battlefield.

A core question for European Union leaders discussing whether to use frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine is whether the idea is legally sound.

The Bank of Russia is set to make a second straight half percentage-point cut to its key interest rate, offering only limited relief to the slowing economy amid uncertainty over whether an upcoming tax hike could stoke inflation.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told ABC News during an exclusive interview in Moscow on Monday that he believes the warring parties are close to a deal.

The Ukrainian security service claimed a new strike on the Belbek Airfield in Crimea had destroyed hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Russian military equipment, including a MiG-31 fighter jet loaded with weapons,

Russian crude prices are at their lowest since the war in Ukraine began, as sanctions deepen the discounts the nation’s oil industry needs to offer and benchmark futures tumble.