The building from which Putin’s spies are poisoning the world: One of the Kremlin’s biggest secrets is revealed and freezes blood

Less than a week after Swedish officials arrested a Russian couple, Sergei Skvortsov, 59, and Elena Kulkova, 58, on suspicion of being Russian spies, Bellingkett investigative journalists have uncovered a far more complex intelligence network behind them. In fact, several other senior officers of the GRU, the Russian military intelligence service that has been operating in Europe for years, live in the same Moscow building where they are registered as living.

The spy couple were arrested on 22 November in Stockholm. Both have been living in Sweden since 1997 and have Swedish citizenship in addition to Russian citizenship. According to the Stockholm District Court indictment, the suspects have been spying since 2013.

Together with their daughter, they own an apartment in Moscow at 36 Zorge Street, but it is unclear whether the couple has ever lived there.

A building full of the most dangerous spies

Interestingly, every apartment in this building is inhabited by Russian informers, and not just any informers, but some of the most powerful ones.

According to Bellingkett, their neighbour is GRU Major General Denis Sergeyev (real name: Sergei Fedotov), allegedly involved in the poisoning of double spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, who were found unconscious in the south of England, and allegedly involved in the Novichok poisoning of Bulgarian businessman Emilian Gebrev in 2015.

Major General Andrei Averyanov, head of GRU unit 29155, known for its liquidations abroad, lives in the same building. Averjanov was, among other things, the commander of the operation that caused the explosions at the munitions depots in Vrbetitsa, Czech Republic, in 2014. Alleged GRU officers known as Aleksandar Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov took part in this operation.

In addition, Major-General Andrei Ilchenko, who is responsible for a number of disinformation campaigns, is in the building. For example, according to sources from the Russian publication Insider, Ilchenko oversaw the cooperation between former Russia Today journalist Yana Yerlashova and Dutch citizen Max van der Werf.

The trio, who pretended to be part of the Bonanza Media research group, spread false news about Mazaija Airlines and the fatal flight 17. This was an international flight of the Malaysian carrier between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur.

The plane on that flight crashed in the pro-Russian separatist-controlled eastern part of Ukraine on 17 July 2014, killing all 280 passengers and 15 crew members. There are doubts that the plane was shot down.

After Insider published a report on Lumpur’s propaganda influence, the police searched the apartment of the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Roman Dobrokhotov, as part of a defamation case. Dobrokhot fled Russia shortly afterwards.

In addition to powerful neighbours, the spy couple was also in contact with Swedish intelligence. It turned out that their daughter shared an apartment with the son of a former senior official of MUST, the Swedish military intelligence and security service.

Who are the Russian “Mr and Mrs Smith”?

This couple has been in the spotlight of the European public after a more than spectacular arrest. Indeed, the Swedish media have quoted witnesses describing how elite police descended from two Black Hawk helicopters to arrest the couple, who were allegedly spying for Russia. The raid on the Russian couple’s villa at 6am in an affluent area on the island of Varmdo, near the Swedish capital, shocked the locals. It seemed to everyone that Sergei and Elena from Moscow were an ordinary couple like any other, but this case has particularly shocked their neighbours.

As the British media later reported, husband and wife Sergei Skvortsov (59) and Elena Kulkova (58) were arrested. Their names were confirmed by the Russian dossier centre and the Swedish Express. It is pointed out that the couple arrived in Sweden in the late 1990s.

Skvortsov, who is in custody, is accused of carrying out “illegal espionage activities” for at least ten years. He is said to have been assisted by Kulkova. She was released on bail and both denied the charges against them.

“One of the detainees is suspected of serious illegal intelligence activities against Sweden and serious illegal intelligence activities against a foreign country.” The other is suspected of aiding and abetting the offence,” the police said.

Incidentally, the couple is said to have several businesses in Sweden – they were involved in shipping and aircraft equipment, IT services, as well as commercial projects. Swedish intelligence agencies claim that Sergei started intelligence activities against the US in 2013 and against Sweden in 2014./Nova S