At least three alleged members of the main Department of Intelligence of the Russian Armed Forces (GRU, in its Russian acronym) flew to Barcelona between November 2016 and December 2017, according to data obtained by THE COUNTRY with the network of investigative journalists Bellingcat and Civic Media, a foundation that is linked to this. One of them is the general Denis Serguéiev, alias Sergey Fedótov , that moved on two occasions to Catalonia; the other two are Alexey Kalinin and Michael Opryshko. They are all members of the Unit 29155, whose activities in Catalonia investigates the National Audience.

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The first to travel to Barcelona was Denis Serguéiev. What did the November 5, 2016 from Moscow, direct flight, and with the false identity of Fedótov. He returned to the Russian capital six days later, on November 11, though not from Catalonia but from the swiss city of Geneva. Not known how long he remained in the Catalan capital. Serguéiev, a veteran of the GRU with the rank of general, he returned to Spain 11 months later: in particular, the 29 of September of 2017, just two days before the holding of the referendum illegal 1-O.

In this second displacement, again the Russian agent used Barcelona as a gateway and the name of Fedótov to hide his true identity. And also returned to Russia from Switzerland. On that occasion, according to information collected by Bellingcat in the positioning of the mobile phone he allegedly used in that trip, was in the Catalan capital just 19 hours: departed by train to Geneva via Lyon (France), on the morning of the following day, September 30. Bellingcat is a website created in 2014 by a group of investigative journalists specialising in techniques of verification of data and in the use of open source fonts (Facebook or Google Earth, among other platforms) for their information.

Alexey Kalinin and Michael Opryshko, the other two alleged agents of the Unit 29155 who moved to Barcelona, only made a trip every one. Kalinin, the alias of Alexey Nikitin, flew the 14 of December of 2016, more than a month after Serguéiev made its first trip. In your case, not used Barcelona to return to Moscow, but who moved to Rome to fly back to Russia only three days later, on the 17th of December. Kalinin is considered one of the most active members of the GRU. His trail has been detected not only in Europe but also in China, Turkey, Israel and Dubai, according to information collected by the foundation's Civic Media. According to police sources, Spanish admitted yesterday the existence of this agent and his alleged links with operations of espionage on other european countries, although they declined to confirm whether you are considered to be implicated in the alleged attempt of destabilization of Spain, through Catalonia.

In fact, Kalinin is a long time in the radar of western intelligence by other operations and is listed on the list of a dozen names linked to the Unit 29155 that handle the services of counterintelligence, british, French and swiss in their research on the activities of the GRU, according to an official western. The unit is composed of a dozen people with abilities are different and complementary: from specialists in computers, technology, cryptography, or even medicine; all with a broad knowledge of the handling of weapons.

These same sources put Kalinin in the team Serguéiev that, in 2015, allegedly participated in the attempted poisoning of the manufacturer of weapons Bulgarian Emilian Gebrev. It was his brief presence in that operation failed one of the first evidences of their belonging to the Unity 29155. That assassination attempt was, in fact, the more tracks you have thrown on the activities of the group. Kalinin has been detected in other “trouble spots under investigation,” says an official on condition of anonymity. It also investigates the alleged involvement of the group in the transfers of money alleged to be irregular.

For its part, Opryshko traveled to Barcelona in December 2017. By then, the Rajoy Government had already applied article 155 of the Constitution —the 27th of October— and taken control of the institutions of the government after the unilateral declaration of independence of the Parliament. The former Catalan Carles Puigdemont fled to the end of that same month at Belgium. At the moment it is unknown how much time passed Opryshko in Spain.

Fedótov is the most active of the Unit 29155 in relation to Catalonia. Born in 1973 in Usharal, a small town in what is today Kazakhstan, he served in the Army, in Siberia, until he was transferred to Moscow. There he enrolled in the Diplomatic Academy and Military Elite, known as the Conservatory, The barn of the GRU. Became a high-ranking official, located on the first level of the military intelligence services, those that operate with a certain degree of coverage: in your case, the manager or a shareholder of eight companies of the Russian federation.

In 2010 and started using the fake identity of Fedótov, with which he traveled on two occasions to Barcelona. With it already operated in other cities of Europe, but also in Asia and the middle East, according to western intelligence services that have followed in their footsteps in recent years. In 2015 I was in Bulgaria when the aforementioned arms dealer Gebrev suffered two assassination attempts. In 2016, prior to and after the referendum, Brexit, was detected in the Uk, on the basis of an investigation carried out by the specialized media Bellingcat, The Insider and Respekt.

official Silence

Reports of the secret services in the west also linked to Serguéiev with the failed attempt of poisoning in march 2018 of the exespía Russian Sergey Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the United Kingdom. Months later, the british Government charged two other alleged members of the GRU of being behind the attack that cost the life of a british woman and caused Skripal and his daughter fell seriously ill when they come in contact with the toxic gas.

Sources of La Moncloa and the Interior Ministry declined yesterday to comment on the new data on the alleged presence of three officers of the Unit 29155 in Barcelona. The Government in functions of Pedro Sánchez has maintained a strict secrecy about the alleged activities of this group in Spain since last November 22, THE COUNTRY desvelase that the judge of the Audiencia Nacional Manuel García-Castellón had opened an investiresearch that is still kept secret. Of the searches had taken over the General Commissariat of Information of the National Police, responsible for the fight against terrorism.

diplomatic Sources Spanish admitted yesterday that the suspicions of the Spanish Government on the existence of interference Russian come from far away. “From the spring of 2018, and after the case Skripal, the services of british and american intelligence provided information on various actions of destabilization of the Russian soil the western, which in the case of Spain, focused on Catalonia”, they say.

The Kremlin and the ministry of Russian Foreign have firmly denied any kind of interference in Catalonia and in the internal affairs of Spain. Late last month, the Russian Government attacked what they defined as an “unhealthy interest” of some Spanish media in “resurrect” a “theme, half-forgotten”. Moscow spoke then of a “campaign of anti-Russian”.

Date Of Update: 27 December 2019, 01:00