A Russian spymaster plotted to use private armies to control migration into Europe, The Telegraph can reveal.

Jan Marsalek, the fugitive boss of the disgraced tech company Wirecard, planned to create a 15,000-strong band of mercenaries to control the border in the key migration route through Libya.

Weaponising the flow of migrants is said to be a key aim of Vladimir Putin, with the issue being a major factor in elections across Europe.

Marsalek, who is on the run, even bought a private military company and succeeded in getting the first Russian boots on the ground in Libya.

The revelations come at a key time in the war in Ukraine, with Donald Trump putting pressure on Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president to get round the table with Putin for peace talks. European leaders have previously warned that the West could see a tidal wave of migrants if Ukraine falls to Russia.

The details of Marsalek’s plans can be revealed for the first time after a ring of UK-based spies he was running were found guilty at the Old Bailey on Friday.

Leader Orlin Roussev, 47, and his team of Bulgarian operatives face jail after being caught plotting kidnapping and surveillance campaigns in one of the Metropolitan Police’s biggest-ever spying operations.