Spain. Media: Russian spy Pavel Rubtsov aka Pablo Gonzalez followed Navalny and provided details of clinics where he was treated

The newspaper wrote that it obtained this information thanks to “dozens of reports and documents” to which it gained access through “Spanish and foreign intelligence sources.”

Rubcow, posing as a freelance journalist, operated, among others, in Poland, where he allegedly used his status as a journalist to collect information on Ukraine for Russian secret services. He was detained by Poland on the Polish-Ukrainian border in 2022. In mid-August, Rubtsov was accused of espionage.

As “El Mundo” writes, the spy allegedly participated in collecting information about representatives of the Russian and Belarusian opposition. His activities focused on the Kremlin's main issues of interest: the prospects for enlargement NATOactivities of dissidents and state security systems.

Among the documents is a report found near Rubców, dated June 14, 2017, in which there were “addresses of clinics in Barcelona and Lausanne” where he was treated Alexei Navalnythen his main political opponent Vladimir Putin – the newspaper reported. Navalny died suddenly in a penal colony on February 16, 2024, where he was imprisoned by the Russian authorities.

According to El Mundo, Rubtsov met with Navalny at least twice in Europe, including once in Spain. The Russian oppositionist then came to Barcelona to undergo eye surgery after being attacked with a disinfectant by unidentified perpetrators. Rubtsov provided the Russians with the clinic's details and took a photo with Navalny.

Rubtsov was also supposed to prepare a number of other reports dated 2016-2021 and provide, among other things, information on the “key security infrastructure in Poland” and inform the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (GRU) about such matters as the attitude of current and potential NATO members to Russia.

The Russian-Spanish spy is also accused of publishing disinformation on the Internet that is part of the Kremlin's official propaganda and of being constantly ready to “follow the orders” of the Russian intelligence services – writes “El Mundo”. According to the newspaper, Rubtsov's acquaintance with Zhanna Nemtsova, the daughter of oppositionist Boris Nemtsov, murdered in 2015, was particularly significant. This was intended to help the spy establish contact with other oppositionists, such as Ilya Yashin or Vladimir Kara-Murza, to prepare reports on the activities of the Russian opposition in exile.

On August 1, Ankara saw the largest exchange of prisoners between Russia and Western countries since the Cold War. The exchange operation involved 24 people serving prison sentences in the United States, GermanyPoland, Slovenia, NorwayRussia and Belarus and two children. 16 people were released from Russian and Belarusian prisons and detention centers, including Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian oppositionist who also has British citizenship, Paul Whelan, a former US Marine who has US, Canadian, British and Irish citizenship, as well as Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich.

Eight people, including Pavel Rubtsov, were released from Western prisons.

At the beginning of September, “Rzeczpospolita” reported that Rubcow, before leaving Poland as part of a prisoner exchange, received access to investigation materials, including secret ones. However, the National Prosecutor's Office assured that the files provided did not contain any state secrets that could harm Poland.