The Kremlin acknowledged that among those released was a GRU spy whose father was in Moscow, but avoided revealing the true identity of Pablo Gonzalez

As the killer Vadim Krasikov stepped down from the plane ladder, Putin embraced him as he stepped onto the ground at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport. Then the spy couple, who had posed as an Argentine couple in Slovenia, came down, and the Russian leader presented flowers and Spanish greetings to the children, who spoke only Spanish and had just discovered that their parents were Russian. Among this group of “illegal immigrants” are Pablo Gonzalez – a Spanish and Russian national – has been in preventive detention for two years and five months on suspicion of spying for Russia, although no charges have been brought against him. Dressed in civilian clothes, he looked at the Russian president from the second step, held out his hand and walked away, passing behind another released person, seemingly trying to distance himself from the president and somewhat embarrassed by the attention and spotlight.

The day after the largest prisoner exchange since the Cold War, the Kremlin acknowledged that among the eight Russian prisoners swapped with the United States and several European countries were agents of spies. Presidential spokesman Dimitri Peskov acknowledged at a press conference that one of the freed prisoners, Vadim Krasikov, was a member of the Federal Security Service (FSB), and that three others were also undercover agents or Russian military spies.

Peskov mentioned that another of those released was an agent of the Military Intelligence Service (GRU), but did not reveal his name.Americans try to put pressure on GRU agents (…) They found the father here. There was a telephone conversation. Contrary to their expectations, the father told his son that he was doing well. “Peskov said. Pablo González’s father happened to be in Moscow. But the Kremlin avoided clarifying whether it was González. And refused to explain why. In response to EFE’s questions about Pablo González, the presidential spokesman said: “The reasons for the inclusion in the exchange list of this Spanish citizen of Russian origin and these details cannot be the subject of public discussion. “

Waiting for your call

Born in Moscow in 1981, the exchange of Russian spies and criminals for political prisoners and foreigners ambushed in Russia brought Pablo González back to square one. He had his children and his journalistic activities in Spain. In Russia, there was the safety of his father and the fact that he would not be extradited if a European country reopened the case against him, and that his public image would not be damaged by scandal. Pablo/Pavel lived several different lives in several European cities – in spy jargon, this is called a “saga”, but the world he returned to, with continents torn apart by war, was very different from the world before his arrest. His journalistic activities and business were in Spain. Ukraine, the country where he had made his fortune as an envoy, expelled him. Poland was his last professional destination and his jailer. Donbas, the focus of his sympathies, was now a meat grinder. Russia, the country where I lived until I was eight years old, was being troubled by the rest of the continent. Contrary to what I thought, Moscow eventually invaded Ukraine; but contrary to what he had predicted when he saw the so-called special military operation begin, Kiev did not lose everything. The war continued, and in a group of spies, This exiled son of an exile is seeking his place.

According to what the family has told those around him, although for the moment he will remain in Russia, returning is his plan. His wife, Oihana Goiriena, in a statement to EFE, said she hoped that he would return to Spain “without any problems” and that “it was important” that he was free “and not in that hole waiting for a trial where there would be no problems. . . come.” . But Pablo González did not contact her or her surroundings on the night of his liberation or the next morning. They argued: “He was in Moscow with his father and underwent a medical examination“, they said, call.

The Polish government confirmed that González was released because they are “loyal members of NATO, loyal allies of the United States”, after which an open investigation against the Spaniard (whom the Polish government called a “spy with dual nationality”) was closed. Archived. Prime Minister Donald Tusk thanked Polish President Andrzej Duda for his “exemplary cooperation” on Twitter/X. Experts such as Ireneusz Cezary Kamiski, a professor at the Nauk Prawnych Institute, believe that this comment points to a pardon. But González has not even been convicted yet. If the case is reopened, he may be tried “in absentia” later.

Pablo González’s release causes discord in Polish politicsNegotiations on a prisoner exchange between Russia and the West have been going on for at least a year and a half. “The condition we put forward within the framework of the prisoner exchange was the transfer of Andrzej Pozobut, who was sentenced to eight years in prison in Belarus, to Poland: “The Tusk team handed over their most valuable agent to the Russians and got nothing in return.”.