In this investigation conducted jointly with our partners Tamedia (Switzerland) and The Insider (Russia), we identify a key member of the recently indicted trio who, following the two failed assassination attempts in Bulgaria in 2015, was accredited to a diplomatic post under his real name in Switzerland. From his new base in Geneva, he continued to work for GRU under diplomatic cover, likely assisted various secret service operations in Switzerland, and may have taken part in the preparation of the Skripal poisoning.
Bellingcat: The strange case of the GRU spy with a red notice
A man walks past the building of the headquarters of the Russian General Staff's Main Intelligence Department (GRU) in Moscow on December 30, 2016.
Russia's foreign ministry has requested President Vladimir Putin turf out 35 American diplomats from the country in a tit-for-tat response to a similar move by Washington over hacking allegations, Moscow's top diplomat said on December 30, 2016. "Russia's foreign ministry... has requested that the Russian president approve declaring as personae non gratae 31 employees of the US embassy in Moscow and four diplomats from the US consulate in Saint Petersburg," Lavrov said in televised comments.
/ AFP PHOTO / Natalia KOLESNIKOVA
