Russian spy disguised as Spanish journalist
On Thursday, the largest prisoner exchange between Russia and Western countries since the Cold War took place in Ankara. The exchange operation included 24 people who were held in prisons in seven countries, including Poland, and two children. As reported by Turkish authorities, 10 people, including two minors, were relocated to Russia, thirteen to Germany, and three to the United States. The exchange included people serving prison sentences in the United States, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, Russia and Belarus.
Among those who returned to Russia was Pavel Rubtsov, a GRU military intelligence agent who had been in a Polish prison and was detained by Poland on the Polish-Ukrainian border on February 28, 2022. Polish intelligence exposed his activities after gaining access to his electronic devices. It is not known to whom he sent his messages, but they were written as reports for his superiors in the intelligence services.
Hristo Grozev, Bellingcat’s former chief Russia researcher, told The Insider in 2023 that Rubtsov allegedly gathered intelligence for Russia and tried to gain the trust of Russian opposition figures so he could report on them. Grozev’s report was based on investigative work by the independent Russian news agency Agentovo. Among other things, he allegedly approached and reported on Zhanna Nemtsova, Boris Nemtsov’s daughter, and people in her circle.
Pablo Gonzalez (Pavel Rubtsov) was born in the Soviet Union. His mother was of Spanish descent. Gonzalez’s father, Alexey Rubtsov, was a manager at the RBC media office. Gonzalez held Russian and Spanish passports. He worked for Spanish media outlets, including the online newspaper Publico and the television station La Sexta.
Shortly before February 24, 2022, the Security Service of Ukraine demanded that Gonzalez leave the country. He was detained in Przemyśl on February 28, 2022. The spokesman for the Minister-Coordinator of Special Services, Stanisław Żaryn, explained at the time that he had been charged with participating in the activities of a foreign intelligence agency against Poland.
— The man was identified as an agent of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Federation (GRU). He carried out his activities for Russia using his journalistic status. Thanks to this, he was able to move freely around Europe and the world, including to zones of armed conflict and areas of political tension — said Żaryn.
— The findings of the investigation indicate that the suspect conducted espionage activities in Warsaw, Przemyśl, Medyka and other cities of the Republic of Poland, as well as in Ukraine and other countries — explained the prosecutor’s office.
Pablo Gonzalez returned to Russia, welcomed by Putin
Rubtsov/Gonzalez was arrested but never tried, even though under Polish law he faced up to 10 years in prison. Since his arrest, he has been held in Poland, spending time in solitary confinement. His wife, who lives in Guernica, complained in Russian media that he was being “abused,” held in a small, damp cell with no ventilation or natural light. He is given meager food rations, denied vitamins and medical care. She said he is “a hostage of the Polish regime” and that Polish authorities are making it difficult for her and her children to meet with him.
After Gonzalez was detained by the ABW, international journalist organizations such as the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International demanded his release and accused the Polish services of unlawful actions. They promoted the version that his reports were “inconvenient for the ultra-conservative government of Law and Justice”. Many journalists in Poland also appealed for the “regime authorities” to release the wrongly detained “Spanish journalist”.
As it turned out, Pavel Rubtsov was indeed a Russian agent, and after the exchange in Ankara he returned to Russia, where at the airport, along with other prisoners, he was greeted by Russian President Vladimir Putin himself.
LGBT activist Bart Staszewski publicly admitted his mistake.
“He was one of hundreds of journalists I interviewed. I did not trust the Polish services, which were oppressive during the PiS era, beat women with batons during protests and spied on activists. Hence my skeptical reaction to his arrest at the time – as you can see, it was wrong. This only shows that the threat is real, spies do not look like James Bond and can take the form of foreign correspondents. I congratulate the Polish services on their effective action,” wrote Staszewski.
Could President Duda pardon Rubtsov?
Polish lawyer Ireneusz Kamiński believes that in order for Rubtsov to be included in the exchange package, President Andrzej Duda had to pardon him. We know for sure that another of the exchanged prisoners, Rico Krieger, was pardoned, sentenced to death for espionage in Belarus. In Poland, however, we have an interesting legal case, because the half-Russian, half-Spanish has neither been tried nor has he been legally convicted…
We do not have confirmation from the President’s Office whether this was indeed the case. We only know that Prime Minister Donald Tusk thanked President Andrzej Duda for the “exemplary cooperation” on the 10th anniversary, and Jacek Dobrzyński, spokesman for the Minister Coordinator of Special Services, wrote that “the President, Prime Minister and government accepted the request of the US authorities to include Pavel Rubtsov, arrested in Poland in 2022, in the exchange of people imprisoned in Russia and Belarus and NATO countries, in compliance with the provisions of Polish law.”
What did Poland gain by releasing the spy?
Deputy head of Polish diplomacy Andrzej Szejna was asked on Friday on TVP Info what Poland had gained by releasing Pavel Rubtsov, a GRU officer arrested in 2022.
– We have gained the fact that we are a loyal member of NATO, a loyal ally of the USA and it seems to me that this is a value in itself, because perhaps soon we will need a favor from the United States in another situation, maybe not a similar one, but a favor – said Szejna.
When asked whether there was a chance that Andrzej Poczobut would leave the Belarusian penal colony as part of this exchange, the deputy minister was unable to answer this question because – as he explained – the operation was classified as top secret.
He noted that the action concerned the exchange of prisoners between Russia and the United States: Russian agents and people wrongly accused of espionage in Russia. – We contributed to this, as did Germany. We released a spy with dual citizenship, and Germany released a man who is convicted of murder. [chodzi o Wadima Krasikowa – przyp. red] – said the deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to Szejna, the exchange took place now because Vladimir Putin needed internal success and wanted to show that he cared about his own people. – In reality, the ball was always in Russia’s court, which took hostages (…), completely innocent people who had nothing to do with the secret services of their countries, in order to later use them as prisoners to exchange for Russian spies at the right moment – emphasized the deputy head of the MFA.
and
In the photo: Pablo Gonzalez/Pavel Rubtsov – photo: DSP FSB of the Russian Federation
Author: Editorial Staff Source: Salon24, PAP
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