Agentstvo: GRU agent was in Zhanna Nemtsova’s circle, turns out to be Spanish journalist of Russian ancestry

Zhanna Nemtsova, the daughter of Boris Nemtsov, used to have a GRU (Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate) agent in her circle, Agentstvo cites two sources acquainted with Zhanna.

The agent’s name is Pablo Gonzalez, he is a Spanish journalist of Russian ancestry who was detained in Poland in February 2022 on suspicion of espionage.

According to a source from the Boris Nemtsov Foundation and an acquaintance of Nemtsova, Gonzalez met her in 2016 in Brussels during a PACE session on her father’s assassination (Boris Nemtsov was killed in downtown Moscow in 2015). The two became friends, and the journalist used to attend events set up by the Foundation, and he also used to invite the Foundation’s employees to visit him at his place.

When Gonzalez was detained in Poland in February 2022, reports on the activities of Nemtsova and people from her circle were found on his digital media. In the reports, he described in detail how he passed the borders, whether he noticed surveillance, and also asked for help in solving problems. He was greatly interested in students of the Summer School of Journalism of the Nemtsov Foundation from Ukraine and the US. In one of his reports, Gonzalez wrote: “It’s good that there was no one from RBC who could recognise me at the Boris Nemtsov forum in Prague.”

Gonzalez’s reports also describe events he moderated and mention people he met at the Nemtsov Foundation, including lawyer Ilya Novikov and opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza.

Among other things, copies of Boris Nemtsov’s letters were found on the journalist’s digital media, which he probably got from Nemtsova’s laptop. Therefore, the investigation plans to charge him with illegal access to information.

Zhanna Nemtsova refused to comment on the matter, citing the fact that she signed a non-disclosure agreement with the Polish authorities. Olga Shorina, co-founder of the Foundation, told Agentstvo that Gonzalez had participated in the organisation’s events, but did not have access to confidential information.

Pablo Gonzalez was born in the Soviet Union to a Russian man and a Spanish woman. Over time, he moved to Spain with his mother. Since 2014, Gonzalez has worked as a military journalist covering events in Crimea and Donbas, specialising in conflicts in the unrecognised republics. Shortly before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukraine’s Security Service demanded that Gonzalez leave the country.