Moscow court orders Bellingcat investigator Christo Grozev’s arrest in absentia

A Moscow district court has ordered the arrest in absentia of Bellingcat investigative journalist Christo Grozev in absentia, reports Mediazona. 

The court made the ruling during a closed hearing. Veronika Polyakova, a lawyer representing Grozev, reported that the court ordered a two-month pre-trial detention for her client. Polyakova did not discuss the details of the charges, citing a non-disclosure agreement.

Mediazona says that Grozeva has been charged with illegally crossing the Russian border. The investigation did not disclose any details about the events. Christo Grozev himself has said that the FSB accused him of “having helped journalist [Roman] Dobrokhotov leave Russia in 2021 to avoid being thrown in jail.”

Also on Friday, Russia’s Ministry of Justice declared Grozev a “foreign agent.”

Russia’s Internal Affairs Ministry put Grozev on Russia’s federal wanted list in December 2022 without specifying what he was wanted for. In 2020, Grozev and Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation identified FSB officers involved in poisoning Navalny. In June 2022, the FSB said that Grozev was involved in a Ukrainian intelligence operation, allegedly as an MI6 agent, to hijack a Russian Air Force plane. Grozev said Bellingcat was caught between Russian and Ukrainian intelligence agents while filming a documentary.