Russias Interior Ministry placed Christo Grozev, the lead Russia reporter with the open-source investigative journalism group Bellingcat, on its wanted list on Monday.In keeping with previous desired lists, the ministry did not define which crime Grozev was presumed of.The Interior Ministry only supplied the Bulgarian nationwides birth place, date of birth, gender, and nationality in an emailed response to a search on the ministrys website.Grozev, 50, has long been a thorn in the Kremlins side, having played crucial functions in a number of Bellingcats many explosive investigations, consisting of that into the 2018 poisoning of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his child in the British city of Salisbury, and the 2020 poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on a domestic flight in Siberia.
I have no concept on what grounds the Kremlin has actually put me on its wanted list , hence I can not supply any comments at this time.
In such a way it doesnt matter-- for several years theyve made it clear they are frightened of our work and would stop at nothing to make it go away, Grozev tweeted on Monday shortly after the Interior Ministrys statement.
In July, Russias Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed that Grozev had been associated with a foiled plot to hijack Russian fighter jets, though it did not state if it had actually ultimately pushed criminal charges against the journalist.Grozev rejected the firms July claims and accused Russias domestic intelligence firm of creating evidence to support its claims, as well as inadvertently exposing the identities of some of its own representatives in its probe of the expected hijacking plot.