It started with an itchy eye. After a dinner in April 2015, Emilian Gebrew suddenly felt uncomfortable. The next day it got worse. The Bulgarian armaments manufacturer began vomiting and finally collapsed in a restaurant in Sofia.
Gebrew soon fell into a coma in the hospital. It was clear that he had been poisoned. Only with which substance the doctors could not determine. Gebrew's son and a business partner showed similar symptoms, albeit less pronounced.
Emilian Gebrew survived the attack and lived in uncertainty. Who had done this to him? The investigation of the authorities soon led to nothing - until three years later in March 2018, the ex-spy and Moscow defector Sergei Skripal in England was also the victim of a poison attack.
Parallels between Skirpal and Gebrew obviously
As it turned out, the attack in England was undoubtedly on the account of members of a special unit of the Russian military intelligence GRU. The assassination attempt on Skripal caused a great sensation internationally, as reaction rejected numerous states from Russian diplomats. Gebrew followed the coverage and wondered. He contacted the prosecutor. The parallels between Skripal and him were obvious:
- Both victims did not suffer well in the Kremlin.
- Both victims came in contact with a mysterious substance.
- Both almost cost her life.
A possible motive of the Russians in the case Gebrew? Among other things, he supplied weapons to Georgia, in the midst of a conflict with Russia in 2008. Gebrew also sought to take over a large Bulgarian weapons factory. Should the takeover possibly be prevented by all means?
Russian GRU agents: men for the rough
British and Bulgarian authorities exchanged messages for Gebrew's instructions. But journalists from the investigative networks "Bellingcat" and "The Insider" revealed unambiguous ties between the assassination attempts earlier this year - providing evidence of European coordinated activities by Russian killer squads.
Men like a spy thriller with the license to kill. Shadow warriors, who are not the brains, but the tools of a broad-based campaign by the Kremlin, which, according to western security agencies, should ultimately destabilize and weaken Europe.
A hybrid strategy of the Russian government, in which time disinformation and propaganda, sometimes hacker attacks or even financial support of right-wing parties are used. GRU agents in the campaign are the men for the rough.
They are mostly kampffahren, often served in special units of the military. They are ruthless and brutal. But on closer inspection sometimes also clumsier than you think.
A man, at least two identities
A key role in the revelations about Skripal and Gebrew is played by an intelligence officer with the code name "Sergei Fedotov", a Russian with gray temples and a beefy face. Shortly before the Skripal assassination in March 2018, "Fedotov" traveled to England with a passport issued on this name.
From a London hotel room, he allegedly acted as local coordinator of the poison attack in Skripal's residence Salisbury. Investigations - including in Russian passport databases - led in February this year finally to the Enttarnung of the man: "Sergei Fedotov" is actually the 45-year-old GRU agent Denis Sergeyev.
Joint research by "Bellingcat" and the SPIEGEL document since 2012 numerous trips of the man to Europe. In the assignable trips to the West, the intelligence officer was always on his way with his code name "Fedotov".
The obvious reason: a person who returns to Europe with a different name each time would quickly become a double-identity spy on biometric controls, such as at airports. So even agents, at least for air travel, prefer to stay with only one fake identity.
Visas for the Schengen area got "Sergei Fedotov" of European embassies and Consulate General problem-free for a long time - this is documented by documents from several foreign representations that are available to the SPIEGEL.
A tourist visa for Spain? No problem
No one in the visa departments of the embassies seemed to suspect that during his frequent travels to Europe, the Russian was not traveling as a tourist, but on a secret mission. A tourist visa for Spain? No problem, still approved on the day the application is submitted. A stay in France? Sure, of course. "Sergei", the frequent flyer. Also documented are several trips of the agent to Bulgaria:
- On 24 April 2015, three days before the bomb attack on arms dealer Gebrew, "Fedotov" traveled by air to Burgas, a seaside resort on the Black Sea coast.
- He had booked his return flight for a week later.
- But on the late evening of April 28, "Fedotov" took a last-minute flight back to Moscow via Istanbul - on the very day that Emilian Gebrew collapsed in the restaurant and fell into a coma.
All coincidence? Rather not. New research shows that Denis Sergeyev alias "Sergei Fedotov" was far from the only GRU employee to fly to Bulgaria during the period in question.
The procedure - clumsy and treacherous
Confidential documents from flight databases and passenger lists document travel by a total of eight detained GRU agents allegedly involved in the attempted murder:
- For example, on the day of the assassination, along with "Fedotov", there were two other agents with the code names "Sergei Pavlov" and "Georgi Gorshkov" in Bulgaria.
- Just like in the case of "Fedotov", these identities were only created in Russian databases and registers from 2009 onwards.
- After reporting on the Skripal and Gebrew cases, they were deleted.
A crude procedure, and a treacherous one. Also, the fake identities were never assigned to real persons in Russia - "Fedotov", "Pavlov" and "Gorshkov" existed only on paper, for example in the visa departments of European diplomatic missions.
THE MIRROR / Bellingcat
GRU agent Sergey Lyutenko, code name "Sergei Pavlov"
In addition, their badges must be assigned to a batch with a specific number sequence that has already been used by identified GRU employees in the past. A three-member suspected kill team, which was probably charged with the immediate execution of the act.
Despite two attempts, the killer failed
About one month after the poison attack in April 2015, arms maker Gebrew was released from the hospital. The Bulgarian thought he had survived the worst. But he was wrong. Already on May 25, the entrepreneur had to go to the hospital again with symptoms of intoxication. Again he survived.
Only two days before the second attempted murder, two GRU agents had once again made their way to Sofia by direct flight from Russia. One of them: "Sergei Fedotov" - the man who was with his colleagues during the first attack against Gebrew, as well as the assassination attempt on Skripal years later. Greetings from Moscow.
Despite two attempts, the killers failed with their mission in Bulgaria - despite the fact that the operation had apparently been prepared for a long time. Travel data analysis shows that the eight uncovered GRU men appeared in changing constellations in Bulgaria between March 2014 and May 2015 , Sometimes they traveled alone, sometimes in teams of two or three, and only for a few days.
THE MIRROR / Bellingcat
GRU agent Nikolay Ezhov, code name "Nikolay Kononikhin" - member of the eight-member suspected killer team
What exactly did the agents during their stays months before the murder attempts, is unclear. But for recreation, the men with the wrong name probably did not travel to the region. Rather, to spy, clear up, and hit. Old secret service school just.
The investigation of the Bulgarian authorities in the case of Emilian Gebrew continue, an end is not yet in sight. Gebrew is now pressing for further testing of the samples of the poison used by specialized laboratories. Initial results indicate similarities with a neurotoxin from the Nowitschok group. The substance that cost even Sergei Skripal almost the life.
