Denis Sergeev (GRU officer)
Denis Vyacheslavovich Sergeev, in Europe alias Sergej Fedotov (born 1973 in Usharal, 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 intelligence service GRU. Bellingcat 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 Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic and did his military service in the southern Russian port of Novorossiisk. Later he graduated from 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.
Involvement in the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal[]
In February 2019, Bellingcat confirmed that a third Russian GRU officer was present in the United Kingdom when the Skripals' were poisoned by Novichok in March 2018. In September 2021, Bellingcat revealed Sergeev's identity and wrote that he was "a high-ranking GRU officer". Furthermore, Bellingcat established that "Russian authorities have taken the unusual measure of erasing any public records" of Sergeev's existence, as well as the other two main suspects in the Skripal posioning.
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[]
- ^ "Mutmaßlicher Geheimdienstanschlag in Sofia. Auftrag: Mord". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
- ^ a b "The GRU Globetrotters: Mission London". bellingcat. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
- ^ "Der dritte Skripal-Verdächtige hat mehrere Tarnfirmen geführt". neue Zürcher Zeitung. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
External links[]
- Companies of Sergejew, NZZ 2/2019
- GRU officers
- Living people
- 1973 births