Bellingcat’s Christo Grozev wanted in Russia

Russia’s Interior Ministry has put Christo Grozev, an investigative journalist and the leader of Bellingcat, on its wanted list, Mediazona says, citing the agency’s database. Grozev is wanted for “spreading fake news about the Russian army”, according to OVD-Info.

Russia’s FSB accused Grozev of working for Ukraine’s intelligence and helping them plot a theft of Russia’s military aircraft in July. The FSB claimed that Ukraine’s intelligence had tried to recruit several Russian pilots in exchange for “a 2 million dollar reward and the citizenship of a EU country”.

Christo Grozev said he “did not participate in any intelligence activities”. The Bellingcat team, he says, was doing a documentary on how the FSB and Ukraine’s intelligence work.

Grozev, a Bulgarian national, became famous in Russia for investigating the poisoning of Alexey Navalny. Bellingcat, The Insider, CNN и Der Spiegel did a joint investigation, led by Grozev, which revealed that the FSB was allegedly behind the poisoning.