Spanish journalist or Russian spy? The mystery around Pablo González : NPR

WARSAW, Poland — When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, reporters from around the globe rushed to the Polish-Ukrainian border to cowl an exodus of refugees fleeing Russian bombs.

Amongst them was Pablo González, a contract journalist from Spain who had been based mostly in Poland since 2019, working for Spanish information company EFE, Voice of America and different retailers. Warsaw-based reporters knew him as an outgoing colleague who preferred to drink beer and sing karaoke into the wee hours of the morning.

Two and a half years later, he was despatched to Moscow as a part of a prisoner swap, forsaking each mysteries about who he actually was and issues about how Poland dealt with a case through which he was accused of being a Russian agent.

Within the first days of the struggle, González offered stand-up studies to TV viewers in Spain in opposition to a backdrop of refugees arriving on the prepare station within the Polish border city of Przemysl.

However lower than week into the struggle, Polish safety brokers entered the room he was staying in and arrested him. They accused him of “collaborating in overseas intelligence actions in opposition to Poland” and mentioned he was an agent of the GRU, Russian navy intelligence.

Pals had been astonished — and, as Poland held González with out trial for months that become years, some grew skeptical and arranged protests in Spain demanding his launch. Authorities have by no means detailed the accusations.

However on Thursday night, the burly 42-year-old with a shaved head and beard was welcomed dwelling by President Vladimir Putin after being freed within the largest prisoner swap for the reason that Soviet period.

His inclusion within the deal seems to verify suspicions that González was a Russian operative utilizing his cowl as a journalist.

Born Pavel Rubtsov in 1982 in then-Soviet Moscow, González went to Spain along with his Spanish mom at age 9, the place he grew to become a citizen and acquired the Spanish title of Pablo González Yagüe. He went into journalism, working for retailers Público, La Sexta and Gara, a Basque nationalist newspaper.

It is not clear what led Poland to arrest him. The investigation stays labeled and the spokesman for the key companies advised The Related Press that he couldn’t say something past what was in a short assertion. Poland is on excessive alert after a string of arrests of espionage suspects and sabotage, a part of what the authorities view as hybrid warfare by Russia and Belarus in opposition to the West.

Polish safety companies mentioned Poland included him within the deal as a result of shut Polish-American alliance and “widespread safety pursuits.” Of their assertion, they mentioned that “Pavel Rubtsov, a GRU officer arrested in Poland in 2022, (had been) finishing up intelligence duties in Europe.”

The pinnacle of Britain’s overseas intelligence company MI6, Sir Richard Moore, mentioned on the Aspen Safety Discussion board in 2022 that González was an “unlawful” who was arrested in Poland after “masquerading as a Spanish journalist.”

“He was attempting to enter Ukraine to be a part of their destabilizing efforts there,” Moore mentioned.

One other trace at his actions got here from unbiased Russian outlet Agentstvo, which reported that in 2016 Rubtsov befriended and spied on Zhanna Nemtsova, the daughter of Russian opposition chief Boris Nemtsov, who was murdered in Moscow in 2015.

Poland-based journalists who knew González mentioned he used his base in Poland to journey to former Soviet nations together with Ukraine and Georgia. He had a license to function a drone and used it to movie Auschwitz-Birkenau from the air for protection on the seventy fifth anniversary of the loss of life camp’s liberation in 2020.

Voice of America, a U.S.-government funded group, confirmed that he labored briefly for them, however they’ve since eliminated any of his work from their web site.

“Pablo González contributed to some VOA tales as a freelancer over a comparatively quick time frame beginning in late 2020,” spokesperson Emily Webb mentioned in reply to an emailed question. “As a freelancer who offered content material to a lot of media retailers, his companies had been organized via a third-party firm utilized by information organizations around the globe.”

“At no time did he have any entry to any VOA programs or VOA credentials,” Webb mentioned. “As quickly as VOA realized of the allegations, we eliminated his materials.”

As a result of Poland’s justice system was politicized underneath a populist authorities that dominated in 2015-23, some activists anxious about whether or not his rights had been revered. Reporters With out Borders was among the many teams that referred to as for him to be placed on trial or launched.

The group stands by its place that he mustn’t have been held that lengthy with out trial. “You’re harmless till a trial proves you responsible,” Alfonso Bauluz, the pinnacle of the group’s workplace in Spain advised AP on Friday. He expressed frustration on the silence across the case, and the truth that there’ll apparently not be a trial in any respect, saying Poland has not offered the proof it has in opposition to him.

However the group additionally says it expects González to offer an evidence now that he’s free.

Jaap Arriens, a Dutch video journalist based mostly in Warsaw, frolicked with the person he knew as Pablo in Warsaw and Kyiv, in addition to in Przemysl shortly earlier than his arrest.

Arriens described him as a pleasant, humorous man with a macho demeanor and a chest coated in tattoos that he as soon as confirmed off in a bar.

González principally slot in, however appeared better-off than the typical freelance journalist. He all the time appeared to have the latest and most costly telephones and computer systems, working on the Poland-Ukraine border with the newest 14-inch MacBook Professional. He had loads of cash to spend in bars.

He recalled González as soon as saying: “Life is sweet, life is nearly too good.”

“And I believed: ‘Man, freelance life is rarely too good. What are you speaking about?’ I do not know any freelancer who talks like this.”

González, whose grandfather emigrated from Spain to the Soviet Union as a toddler in the course of the Spanish Civil Conflict, was often called a Basque nationalist with ties to the area’s independence motion.

Russia is suspected of supporting separatist actions in Spain and elsewhere in an effort to destabilize Europe.

González’ spouse in Spain had been advocating on his behalf throughout his detention in Poland, despite the fact that they weren’t residing collectively on the time of his arrest.

Over the previous years, the suspect’s supporters ran an account on Twitter, now X, to advocate for his launch.

When he was despatched to Moscow on Thursday, the @FreePabloGonzález account tweeted: “That is our final tweet: Pablo is lastly free. Countless because of all.”

Those that have adopted the case at the moment are awaiting González’s subsequent strikes.

He has Spanish citizenship — and the precise to return to the European Union. His spouse was quoted in Spanish media saying she hopes he can return to Spain.