The National Court investigates the presence in Spain of a Russian spy who was in Catalonia the days before the illegal referendum on October 1. This is Sergey Fedotov , a senior officer of the Russian military intelligence services related to various destabilization operations in Europe, such as the attempted assassination of former Russian spy Sergey Skripal in London. The investigation, which is under secrecy and which has been revealed by El País , is in the hands of the central court of instruction 6 directed by Manuel García Castellón, the Prosecutor of the National Court and the National Police.

According to information published by Bellingcat, Sergey Fedotov was in Barcelona twice in recent years. According to sources close to the case opened in Spain, the Police track the movements of Fedotov and other members of the special espionage unit to which it belongs.

The first trip detected by the spy, following the trail of his mobile phone, occurred in early November 2016 and was part of a trip to Switzerland. Fedotov flew from Moscow to Barcelona, ​​where he only stayed a day before leaving for Switzerland. Bellingcat points out that in fact the passage through Catalonia responded to an attempt to more easily access the Swiss country.

The second trip took place on September 29, 2017. Again he flew with Aeroflot to the city, where he spent one night. The next day he was in the beach area for an hour and presumably embarked on a train trip to Switzerland. The media indicates that it does not have data to interpret the presence of the Russian spy on such a delicate date. He suggested that the trip responded to the need to maintain some brief contact with his contacts in the area or that, again, it was the easiest way to enter Switzerland later.

Knowledgeable sources of the open cause at the National Court indicate that at this time it is still unclear the scope of the presence of Russian spies in Catalonia before 1-O nor what their objectives would be. Previously, support for the secessionist process had been detected from areas close to the Russian Administration. Great support for the referendum was also detected in social networks from accounts linked to Russian intelligence services.

According to Bellingtag, in fact Fedotov is the identity used in the trips by Denis Vyacheslavovich Sergeev, 46, a graduate of the Russian Military Diplomatic School and a relevant member of the GRU, the Central Intelligence Department of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Specifically, it would be integrated into the special group that, as revealed by the New York Times last month, operates under the name 29155.

Two other members of this group - Natoly Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin - are attributed by the British Government the poisoning of Skripal last year. Fedotov-Sergeev was also in the United Kingdom when these events took place. It is also related to the attempted coup in Montenegro in 2016 and another attempted poisoning of an arms dealer in Bulgaria.

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  • Catalonia
  • National audience
  • Barcelona
  • National Police
  • Spain
  • United Kingdom
  • London
  • Europe

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