8 minutes agoDeported Russian diplomats find homes in Belgrade
Periskopi(3 years ago)
(3 years ago)In the months following Ukraine's unprotested invasion by Russia last year, hundreds of Russian diplomats were expelled from European Union member states. Some cited allegations of spying as a reason for the expulsion of the Ethiopians. At least three of them resurfaced later as accredited diplomats in Serbia two of [...]
At least three of them later resurfaced as accredited diplomats in Serbia, two of whom have links to Russian intelligence, shows a several-month review of Radio Free Europe.
The third diplomat, currently located at the Russian Embassy in Belgrade, left his post at the Russian Embassy in Helsinki months after Finland announced the expulsion of Russian diplomats in response to the invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24th in 2022.
Russia increased its diplomatic presence in Serbia, following a wave of expulsions of diplomats from the EU last year. There are now 62 accredited diplomats in Serbia compared to 54 in March 2022, an analysis of diplomatic lists, held by Serbia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, shows.
Unlike most European countries, Serbia did not impose sanctions on Moscow, as Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine.
Serbia aspires to join the European Union, but President Aleksandar Vuciq's government also tries to maintain close ties with Russia, which supports Belgrade in numerous disputes with the West.
Russia is among the countries that do not recognise Kosovo's independence and supports Serbia's efforts to block Kosovo's membership in international institutions.
Now, at least one expelled Russian diplomat, linked to a Russian Federal Security Service unit (FSB) accused of cyber attacks against the US energy sector, has been deployed in Belgrade, as has another linked to Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, REL research.
From hackers to diplomats
On April 11th 2022, Croatia announced it would expel 18 Russian diplomats and six supporters from the Russian Embassy in Zagreb, citing Russia's brutal <x0-aggression against Ukraine” as reasons.
Among the diplomats expelled from Croatia was Alexei Ivanenko, who served as Russian Embassy's second secretary, shows a list of expelled officials who Radio Free Europe secured from a source in European diplomatic circles.
By the time Ivanenko was expelled, he had served more than two years in the Russian diplomatic mission in Zagreb, Croatian Foreign Ministry data show.
Within six months, Ivanenko, 38, took the new post in Belgrade, according to Serbian Foreign Ministry data.
After moving to Serbia, together with his wife, Yekaterina, he was promoted as the embassy's first secretary in Belgrade.
According to some data stemming from the Russian government, revised by the REL, Ivanenko ught about a decade before his expulsion from Croatia worked in another Russian state sector.
According to these leaked data, Ivanenko worked as <x0inary” for the 71330 U.S. Military Unit. The connection of the 71330 Military Unit to FSB is confirmed by open sources, including decisions by Russian courts.
About two weeks before Croatia announced the expulsion of 18 Russian diplomats in response to Ukraine's Russian occupation, American authorities uncovered indictments of three Russian intelligence officers working for the 16th Centre accused of punishing American nuclear companies and others for nearly six years.
Four months after Ivanenko and other Russian diplomats were expelled from Zagreb, the US Cyber Command sent employees to Croatia “to track cyber-love activities on partner networks”.
Ivanenko's wife, Yekaterina, was a professional violinist at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.
In 2015, a friend of Yekaterina Ivanenko posted a picture of her, a young girl, and a man embracing them at a Russian cultural center in New Delhi.
The face recognition software shows that the man in that photo is probably the same man photographed in January at an Orthodox religious holiday in Serbia, along with a diplomat from the Russian Embassy.
The Croatian Foreign Ministry did not respond to Radio Europe Free for Comment.
Through Facebook, REL also submitted a request for comment to Yekaterina Ivanenko, who did not respond and blocked the journalist who sent him.
Houses for spies
In March 2022, Poland announced that it would expel 45 suspected Russian intelligence officers who appeared as diplomats. Varshava considered them a “threat to the country's interests” and accused them of working “to undermine the stability of Poland and its allies”.
Poland did not publicly identify any of the targeted officials. But one of the names that disappeared from the Russian Embassy website in Warsaw shortly after was Mikhail Generalov.
On the day Poland issued the statement, Generalov, 39, was still listed as adviser at the embassy in Warsaw. Poland gave expelled Russian diplomats five days to leave the city.
On April 1st, Generalov's name had been removed, as had 43 other Russian diplomats stationed in Warsaw, one Archived version Embassy website.
A Polish official, aware of the issue but not authorised to speak publicly, confirmed to Radio Free Europe that Generalov has been expelled from Poland following the invasion of Ukraine from Russia.
However, Generalov soon took his new position. Six months later, he joined the Russian Embassy in Belgrade as adviser.
Diplomatic lists held by Serbia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs show that Generalov took office in September 2022 and, according to the last available list, he was in that position even in February.
REL independently confirmed the links between Generalov and the Russian intelligence device. Dating on real estate in Moscow shows that Generalov's residence is located in a complex on Vilnyusskaya Street, southwest of Moscow.
This complex was built in 2001 for the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, known as SVR, with decree The then mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzkhov.
Ties between Russian complex and intelligence emerged in 2011 in media reports after an SVR colonel died as a result of Fall out of the window His apartment over there.
On Web site The Russian Embassy School in Warsaw marked Generalov's visit there in February 2017, which was then introduced as the second secretary of the embassy.
The Polish Foreign Ministry refused to comment on the personal data of expelled Russian diplomats. Poland proposes EU complete trade ban with Russia
Serbia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to the demand for comment until the publication of this text.
REL also tried to get a comment from Generalov through his account on the Russian social network, V Contact. It turns out that the message was read, but there was no answer.
Helsinki and The Hague
At least another diplomat currently serving at the Russian Embassy in Belgrade was placed on the Netherlands' blacklist, along with 17 other Russian diplomats, whom the Dutch government expelled after the invasion of Ukraine. The Hague named them Russian intelligence officers.
Diplomat Dmitry Barab serves as second secretary at the Russian Embassy in Belgrade at least since September.
Dutch Government He announced in March 2022 a month after the launch of the Russian occupation that he was ousting 17 Russian intelligence officers “due to the national security threat posed by this group”.
Barabbas was not among those who were expelled from the Netherlands, but instead he was forbidden to enter this country before taking office at the Russian Embassy in The Hague, a research conducted in October 2022 shows by Dosier Center A research group founded by Krymlin's exiled critic and businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky, in collaboration with De Tid, NOS.
Contacted by Radio Free Europe, the Dutch Foreign Ministry refused to comment.
Netherlands Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said last month on the eve of the anniversary of Ukraine's Russian occupation that the Netherlands has decided to limit the number of Russian diplomats, due to Moscow's ongoing “efforts to send intelligence agents to the Netherlands, under diplomatic mask”.
Barabin, 38, and his wife are active in social networks, but publicly available information about his diplomatic career is slim. Journalists failed to identify any diplomatic positions before the mandate in Belgrade.
Radio Free Europe requested comment from Barabini through his V Contact account. The request was read, but there was no answer.
Russia's Foreign Ministry did not respond to the request for comment on its diplomatic staff in Belgrade.
Barabin's father served earlier as director of the Hartography Institute in the Russian Ministry of Defence.
The third Russian diplomat, currently employed at the Russian Embassy in Belgrade, left his position in an EU country following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Diplomat Pyotr Dolgoshin figures as adviser at the Russian Embassy in Belgrade. By the summer of 2022, he held the second secretary's post at the Russian Embassy in Helsinki.
The government of Finland announced in April 2022 that it would expel two Russian diplomats. She also refused to extend the visa of a third diplomat, in response to Ukraine's Russian invasion and “the security sector in Europe”.
It is not clear whether Dolgoshin is among the Russian diplomats mentioned in the Finnish Government's statement.
His name remained among the names of 61 Russian diplomats listed on the embassy's website in Helsinki, even two months after Finland announced the expulsion of diplomats, though the site says it has been updated for the last time in October 2021.
By August 2022, the names of diplomats on the list were reduced by three, and Dolgoshin's name disappeared along with the names of ten other Russian diplomats on the list from June that year. Exactly who were deported and who moved out of Finland is unclear.
The removal of Dolgoshin from Finland to Serbia is also evident in his posts on the V Contact Network, where he has at least one nickname account. In February 2021, he posted a photo of ésselfie in front of the presidential palace in Finland. In December 2022, he published photographs from the Temple of St. Sava in Belgrade.
Both Finland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Finland Embassy in Belgrade refused to comment on the case.
Dolgosein was listed as an official representative of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs in Finland.
Also, there are indications that he was part of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Kosovo.
Dolgoshein did not answer the request for comment sent to his Vkontak account.
Regarding the new Russian diplomats in Belgrade, the Balkan Radio Service Free Europe requested comment from the Government of Serbia and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as from President Aleksandar Vuciq's office, but, until the publication of this text, there was no response.
“
The Russian Embassy in Belgrade, earlier, was involved in a spying link. In November 2019, the Serbian government announced that it has uncovered a Russian spy network connected to the embassy, what prompted Vuciqi to call the Russian ambassador in informative conversation.
Vuciq, however, downplayed the incident.
We will not change our policy towards Russia. We see it as a brotherly and friendly country... but we will strengthen intelligence protection”, Vuciq said.
Nikola Lulunic, former Serbian military diplomats who today heads the non-governmental Belgrade Council for Strategic Policy, told the Balkan Service Radio Free Europe that Serbia could jeopardise its European integration by giving <x0) diplomatic framework” to the expelled Russian diplomats.
“The action like this one of Serbia could be perceived in the West as diplomatic, and possibly intelligent, support for the overall efforts of the Russian war [in Ukraine]”, Lounic said.
He said intelligence services, as a rule, “use diplomatic privileges to carry out their intelligence duties without obstacles, with diplomatic immunity”.
It is clear that, at this moment, Serbia represents the last shelter in Europe for safe work in the intelligence of Russian operatives”, Lounic said. / REL
