Former Russian military officer and his wife from Kyiv organise sabotage in Europe – The Insider

Former Russian military officer Nikolay Šapošnikov and his wife Elena, originally from Kyiv, helped Russia's Chief Intelligence Directorate (GRU) organise sabotage in Europe.

Source: The Insider

Details: The Šapošnikovs are citizens of Czechia who moved there in the early 1990s. The Insider notes that Elena Šapošnikova has a passport with a number from the range reserved for Russian intelligence officers. The Czech authorities suspect the Šapošnikovs of involvement in the 2014 explosions at the ammunition depots in Vrbětice.

Nikolay Šapošnikov is a graduate of the engineering faculty of the Baku Military Command School. He fought in Afghanistan for three years. In 1987, Šapošnikov was sent to Czechoslovakia, where he served as a motorised rifle company commander. In February 1989, he was expelled from the Communist Party for "repeated embezzlement of gasoline and batteries from the army" and then dismissed from the service. Shortly after the Soviet troops left Czechoslovakia, Šapošnikov returned to the country and sought political asylum there, presenting his expulsion from the party. In August 1991, he was granted political asylum, and a few months later, his wife Elena, who lived in Kyiv, and their two young children were granted the same status.

In 1999, after several refusals, Nicolay was granted Czech citizenship, and Elena received a Czech passport in 2004. 

In the early 2000s, Šapošnikov got a job at Imex, an arms dealer. Its head was Petr Bernatik, a former "secret informant" of the Czechoslovakian State Security Service. The Insider says that Šapošnikov was looking for new clients for the company. Imex was a tenant of the warehouses in Vrbětice, where the explosions occurred in October 2014.

In May 2022, the Czech media outlet Respekt reported that a criminal espionage case had been opened against Nikolay and Elena Šapošnikovs. The Czech police gained access to the correspondence between the Šapošnikovs and General Andrei Averyanov, the head of the GRU military unit No. 29155. "The content of the emails was confidential information about weapons depots, such as the movement of military equipment," the source claimed.

The Šapošnikovs’ daughter confirmed to journalists that the family had met with Averyanov. It happened in early October 2014 in Lisbon. An explosion at an ammunition depot in the village of Vrbětice in Czechia occurred on 16 October.

The Insider writes that in 2009, the Šapošnikovs bought a villa on the Halkidiki peninsula in Greece for 275,000 euros. Elena Šapošnikova told investigators that she had financed the purchase of the villa with "her parents' money". The publication notes that Šapošnikova’s parents are pensioners who live in Kyiv. The Insider calls the villa in Greece a "safe house" for members of the GRU's 29155 unit, who began to fly "regularly" to the city of Thessaloniki, an hour's drive from the villa, as soon as the Šapošnikovs settled there. In particular, Averyanov flew to Thessaloniki under the name "Overyanov" and stayed there from 15 to 21 July 2013. A year later, he was back in Thessaloniki on his way back from Amsterdam. The Insider reported that at least four other members of military unit 29155 flew to Thessaloniki between 2012 and 2018.

The Insider also notes that on 25 April 2014, GRU officer Alexei Kapinos arrived in Thessaloniki on a diplomatic passport. When asked by a Czech investigator, Šapošnikov called him a "family friend". The day before, three members of the GRU military unit 29155 arrived in Bulgaria, where local businessman Emilian Gebrev was to be poisoned. The businessman himself told The Insider that the Šapošnikovs had met him back in 2012 and "actively imposed communication".

At the time of the poisoning, Gebrev was considered a supplier of ammunition to the Ukrainian army. Two sources involved in arms procurement in Ukraine at the time told the newspaper that after Gebrev's poisoning, Nikolay Šapošnikov offered "Ukrainian government buyers a reliable replacement" for Gebrev. Ukraine did not purchase ammunition from the proposed supplier due to the unsatisfactory quality of the goods.

The Czech police reported that Elena Šapošnikova sent General Averyanov information about upcoming arms sales deals discovered by her husband while working at Imex via email. It is believed that the GRU used this information for sabotage operations if these deliveries were detrimental to Russia's military interests. Investigators believe that the Šapošnikovs provided physical access to Imex-operated storage facilities on at least three occasions so that GRU officers could install remote-controlled detonators.

According to the travel and border crossing data obtained by The Insider, Elena Šapošnikova "secretly" received a Russian passport from a range of numbers reserved for members of Unit 29155. The Insider indicated that Šapošnikova used this passport to travel to Russia twice: in December 2015 and in December 2017. The Insider claims that during the first trip, she was awarded the title of Hero of Russia. There is no official confirmation of this information. Investigator Christo Grozev previously reported that GRU officers Alexander Mishkin and Anatoly Chepiga were awarded the title of Hero of Russia for the explosions at warehouses in Czechia.

Elena and Nikolay Šapošnikovs refused to come to Czechia for interrogation, so representatives of the Greek and Bulgarian authorities talked to them. They claimed that all their ties with GRU members were "personal" or driven by Imex's business interests. They said that they did not know that Kapino and Averyanov were Russian intelligence officers and claimed that they did not deliberately assist the GRU in any of the sabotage operations.

In February 2024, Nikolay Šapošnikov died. The cause of death is unknown, with The Insider claiming that Šapošnikov allegedly began abusing alcohol after becoming the subject of a Czech police investigation. Elena Šapošnikova lives in Greece.

As The Insider has previously claimed, GRU unit 29155 has been organising explosions in EU countries since 2011. The Insider indicated that the first sabotage took place at a warehouse in Bulgaria, where ammunition, which could have been intended for sale to Georgia, was delivered.

Background:

• In 2021, Czechia accused Russia of organising an explosion that took place on 16 October 2014 at an arms depot in the eastern part of the country, which led to numerous destructions and the deaths of two local residents. It was only six and a half years later that the Czech government officially accused Russia of organising this sabotage.
• In this regard, Prague expelled 18 Russian diplomats, and Russia responded by declaring 20 employees of the Czech Embassy in Moscow persona non grata. After that, Czechia announced that it was expelling another 70 Russian embassy staff. Several EU countries joined the expulsion of Russian diplomats in solidarity with Czechia.

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