Denis Sergeev (GRU officer)

Denis Sergeev, in Europe alias Sergej Fedotov (born 1973 in Kazakhstan) is a Russian officer of military intelligence service GRU. He is suspected to be the local coordinator of the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal 2018 in the UK and the poisoning of Bulgarian arms dealer Emilian Gebrew 2015 in Bulgaria.[1]

Career

Denis Sergeev is a member of Russian military intelligent service GRU. Bellincat wrote about his rank, that it "was at no lower than colonel, and possibly Lt. General or Major General."[2]

Sergeev was born in 1973 in a military settlement in the Sowjet-Republic Kazakhstan and did his military service in the southern Russian port of Novorossiisk. Later he visited the Russian Diplomatic Military Academy in Moscow, also known as the "GRU Conservatory", where military intelligence trains its cadres.

Involvement in GRU operations in Europe

Sergeev was involved in the establishment of a total of eight companies between 2004 and 2012, were opened and later liquidated. He was shareholder or managing director; at times other suspected GRU officers were involved in the companies. The purpose of these companies, whose names imitate larger Russian companies, is unclear. NZZ speculated, that may have been used to launder money or as a fictitious employer to GRU employees. Sergeyev got a personal bank loan of about one million USD, about whose use nothing is known. [3]

The investigative website Bellingcat reported in 2019 on a possible involvement in a poison attack on the Bulgarian arms manufacturer Emilian Gebrew in the spring of 2015. Bulgarian Prosecutor General's Office has confirmed the presence of Sergeev during the period of the attack.

Sergeev is said to had a senior position to the executing GRU-agents Chepiga and Mishkin in the Skripal poisoning operation. He was likely in charge of coordinating the operation in Salisbury.[2]

References
  1. "Mutmaßlicher Geheimdienstanschlag in Sofia. Auftrag: Mord". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  2. "The GRU Globetrotters: Mission London". bellingcat. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  3. "Der dritte Skripal-Verdächtige hat mehrere Tarnfirmen geführt". neue Zürcher Zeitung. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
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