It is about Nikolai and Elena Shaposnikov, who bought Villa Elena for about 275,000 euros in 2009, according to an investigation by the Russian journalistic group The Insider, as reported by the British Daily Telegraph
London, Thanasis Gavos
An Eastern European couple who bought a hotel in Halkidiki were spies helping members of the Russian intelligence service and linked to deadly attacks on ammunition depots in the Czech Republic.
This is the conclusion of the investigation of the Russian journalistic group The Insideras carried by the British Daily Telegraph.
It’s about him Nikolai and Elena Shaposnikovwho bought the Villa Elena compared to around 275,000 euros in 2009.
They moved there and started operating the business a year later.
But the accommodation was also used as a shelter for members of the Russian GRU security service. Reportedly between 2012 and 2018 at least four members of Unit 29155 stayed therea GRU group involved in operations to destabilize foreign governments.
Among them the commander of the Unit, general Andrei Averianov.
The Shaposnikovs are accused by Czech authorities of providing support and passage to Russian agents in 2014 who blew up at least two ammunition depots in the southeastern village of Vrbetice in order to prevent the supply of ammunition to Ukraine.
The agents were Alexander Myskin and Anatoly Chepyga, i.e. the two Russians accused by Britain of poisoning the Skripals with novichok in Salisbury in 2018. The coordinator of this attack was allegedly General Averianov.
The Shaposnikovs are described as a pair of “illegal spies”, i.e. agents without diplomatic cover.
They lived a double life in the Czech Republic, which last year sought their extradition from Greece over the attacks on the warehouses, which left at least two workers dead.
While Nikolai died in February of a heart attack at the age of 62, the version of Elena (also 62 today) is pending.
She is estimated by Russia’s The Insider to have had direct contact with Unit 29155 and is believed to have had a role in gathering information and recruiting agents on behalf of Moscow.
Ms. Saposnikova is also said to have received a secret Russian passport, like those given to members of Unit 29155, and to have been awarded the military honor of Hero of the Russian Federation for her role in sabotage operations in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria.
Czech authorities launched the investigation when they discovered that she owns an offshore company in the Marshall Islands and holds two bank accounts in Switzerland.
Source: Skai
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