What Do We Know About the Most Controversial Intelligence Officers from Moscow Recently Exchanged?

The 26 individuals who were freed on August 2nd in the largest prisoner exchange between Russia and the West since the Cold War each have unique stories, but it was confirmed by the Kremlin that all those who returned to Russia were either Moscow intelligence agents or were acting in the interests of the Russian security service. In exchange for 16 individuals released from Russian prisons, eight who were accused and imprisoned in Western countries for murder, hacking, theft, or espionage returned to Moscow. Vladimir Putin, who personally went to the airport to welcome and thank them, stated: 'The homeland will never forget you.' During this exchange, Vadim Konushchynok, an officer of the Russian security service who was arrested in Estonia for smuggling dual-use equipment into Russia and extradited to the U.S., was freed. Vladislav Klyushin, who was arrested in Switzerland for fraud and tried in the U.S., also returned to Russia. Another individual was Roman Seleznev, the son of a Duma lawmaker, who was imprisoned for stealing information from millions of credit cards and selling it on criminal databases in the U.S. However, media attention was more drawn to other individuals from this group: the unprecedented infiltration of Russian spies in peaceful Western countries. Vadim Krasikov, the 'killer', appears to have been a priority for the Kremlin according to repeated statements from the Russian president and reports revealing details of the recent prisoner exchange. This officer of the Russian security service murdered Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a Chechen Georgian who fought against Russia in the Chechen and Georgian wars, in Berlin five years ago with three shots to the head, and was sentenced to life in prison in Germany for this act described by the court as 'state terrorism'. Krasikov repeatedly claimed during his detention that he was 'Vadim Sokolov, a tourist', had committed no crime, and that the German police and judges had made a mistake. The Russian government also described all accusations as 'ridiculous and baseless'. However, after Krasikov's return to Moscow, Vladimir Putin greeted him like an old friend, and the Kremlin spokesperson introduced Krasikov as 'a security officer and a member of the Alpha special guard who serves alongside some other protectors of the Russian president'. Sergey Naryshkin, head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, expressed hope in an interview that Russian intelligence-security officers would 'continue their activities after a short rest'. The Dolzhtsev family, 'spies', were officially confirmed by the Kremlin spokesperson to be Russian intelligence officers after Anna Dolzhtseva and her husband Artyom returned to Moscow. According to Dmitry Peskov, 'The children of Anna and Artyom were only told one day before the exchange that they are Russian. They cannot speak Russian. They did not know who Putin was and asked their parents who it was that greeted them in Spanish at the airport.' He described the fate of this family of Russian intelligence officers as 'the highest sacrifice and service to the homeland'. Artyom Dolzhtsev, a senior officer of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, introduced himself as 'Ludwig Gish' before their arrest in Slovenia and owned a computer services office. Anna Dolzhtseva's alias, who is said to hold an even higher rank in the same intelligence organization than her husband, was 'Maria Rosa Meyer Munoz'. She managed an art gallery. Both resided in Slovenia with Argentine passports. Reports indicate that the mission of these Russian spies dates back about 12 years, but they only became active with the onset of Russia's large-scale military invasion of Ukraine. It has not yet been announced exactly what activities they were engaged in. According to the New York Times, these Russian spies were arrested while communicating with their Russian colleagues 'without using telephone and internet lines'. The Wall Street Journal also reported that their computer was equipped with a special communication system that Western engineers have not yet been able to decode. The Wall Street Journal noted that inside the refrigerator of the couple's three-story house on the outskirts of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, there was a box containing hundreds of thousands of euros, raising suspicions that these Russian spies were using Slovenia as a base for transferring cash and messages from Moscow and strengthening the Russian espionage network across Europe. On the other hand, a Slovenian security and intelligence official deemed the couple's involvement in managing the finances of Russian sabotage groups in Europe unlikely but stated, 'This couple was undoubtedly very, very, very important.' The Dolzhtsev family is said to be part of a broad network of Russian intelligence officers in European countries, of the type depicted in the famous television series 'The Americans'. The former Soviet Union and subsequently Russia have a long history of establishing such networks. Unlike spies with diplomatic cover, these intelligence officers, for whom millions of dollars have been spent on their false identities, appear to have no connection to Russia and are naturally not immune to legal prosecution. Following the widespread expulsion of Russian diplomats from Western countries in recent years, the role of this covert network has become even more significant, and it is suspected that they coordinate and execute disinformation campaigns, sabotage operations, and even assassinations of Kremlin opponents outside Russia on behalf of the Russian government. Meanwhile, on a superficial level, their lives seem 'completely ordinary'. Mikhail Mikushin, 'the spy', lived for years in Canada and Norway under a Brazilian passport named 'Jose Asis Giamaria', initially appearing to research military and non-military threats to Arctic security at the University of Calgary and then at the Arctic University in Tromsø. However, even before Mikushin was arrested for espionage in Norway two years ago, the Blinket research group discovered through social media analysis that he was a Russian intelligence officer. It was reported that Mikushin was born in Yekaterinburg but moved to Moscow at the age of 26 and resided in the dormitory of the Military-Diplomatic Academy there. According to Blinket, which has uncovered the identities of many Russian spies, a significant number of these spies have graduated from this academy. Mikushin, who initially denied any connection to the Russian government, revealed his identity to Norwegian investigators a year after his arrest and accepted responsibility. Interestingly, his brother Ivan is an opponent of the Kremlin and a supporter of the late Russian politician Alexei Navalny. Reports suggest that preparations for the prisoner exchange between Russia and the West were initiated for the release of Alexei Navalny, and this process was halted for several months following his death in prison. Pablo Gonzalez, 'the spy', is the real name of a person with Russian and Spanish citizenship. His grandfather sought refuge in the Soviet Union during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, and his daughter, Pablo's mother, Maria Elena Gonzalez, married Alexei Rubtsov, a Russian scientist, in Moscow. In 1982, they had a son who was called 'Pavel' in Russian and 'Pablo' in Spanish. As the Soviet Union collapsed, Pavel/Pablo's parents separated, and his mother took him to Spain. He became a Spanish citizen but also obtained a Russian passport at the age of 21. This fact only became public after his arrest, and before that, he had told everyone that he learned Russian at the University of Barcelona; he graduated in Slavic languages and journalism from this university. In 2014, Pablo Gonzalez began his career as a freelance journalist, and reports from Kosovo, Transnistria, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Eastern Ukraine were published not only by many Spanish publications but also by Deutsche Welle and Voice of America. He co-authored a book on Ukraine with experts from the prestigious European Council on Foreign Relations and spoke as an Eastern Europe expert in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe about Ukraine, Moldova, and 'the threats of color revolution scenarios'. During this time, his news outlet, Eulix, which claimed to be an independent publication combating misinformation, was actually managed and funded by the Russian intelligence service, with its published content aligned with Russian political propaganda. Shortly before the onset of Russia's large-scale military invasion of Ukraine, the Kyiv government declared Pablo Gonzalez persona non grata. He moved from Ukraine to Poland, where he was arrested at the end of February 2022 on suspicion of collaborating with the Russian intelligence service. He faced charges of gathering information for Russia and disseminating false information, and due to 'espionage activities against Poland', he faced a prison sentence of 3 to 15 years. 'The most successful Russian spy', it seems that throughout all the years of 'journalistic activity', no one noticed that Pablo Gonzalez was promoting the narratives and viewpoints of the Kremlin. His arrest sparked protests from many human rights defenders, including even Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders. Yevgeny Butman, a prominent Russian journalist who met Pablo Gonzalez during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, describes him as 'a very charming person and a top-notch journalist'. Irina Borogan, an expert who has been researching the activities of Russian spies in Western countries for years, admitted that during their four years of acquaintance with Gonzalez, she had never noticed 'the signs that all Russian spies have'. Vladimir Putin's appreciation for Gonzalez, who went to the airport to welcome the Russian intelligence officers after the prisoner exchange, ended the heated discussions about Pablo Gonzalez's true identity. At the same time, the Federation of Journalists of Spain welcomed his release and accused the Polish government of imposing harsh conditions on Pablo Gonzalez without providing evidence. Gonzalo Buye, Pablo Gonzalez's lawyer, also claimed that his client was 'no different from Ivan Gershkovich (the Wall Street Journal journalist who was convicted and imprisoned in Russia on espionage charges and was freed in the prisoner exchange)'. It appears that Pablo Gonzalez joined the Boris Nemtsov Foundation in 2016, an organization established by his daughter Zhanna to unite the Russian opposition after this Kremlin opponent was murdered. There, he became acquainted with many prominent political figures in Russia, and while gaining their complete trust, he reported their views and statements to Russian intelligence officers. He also met Ilya Yashin and Vladimir Kara-Murza there; these two politicians were among those exchanged along with Russian spies, including Pavel Rubtsov. However, Pablo Gonzalez's missions were not limited to spying among Kremlin opponents. According to Agnieszka, a Russian publication that first revealed his espionage activities last year by obtaining hacked information from Pablo Gonzalez's mobile phone, he may have been a key link between the Kremlin and Basque nationalists in Spain. Since the 2017 referendum on Catalonia's independence and the subsequent widespread protests, the Kremlin's role in supporting separatists has been under investigation. Richard Moore, head of the British intelligence agency MI6, believes that Pablo Gonzalez was dispatched by the Russian intelligence service to Eastern Ukraine 'to play a role in inciting instability in the region'. In one of his notes for the Russian intelligence service, recently published by Polish investigators, Gonzalez wrote regarding a conference in Poland: 'I have succeeded in strengthening the arguments of NATO opponents and casting doubt on supporters of Ukraine's membership in this alliance.' Following the prisoner exchange between Russia and the West, many media outlets have referred to Pablo Gonzalez as 'the most successful Russian spy'.