Whatever you’ve got How LDPR leader Leonid Slutsky’s Russian Peace Foundation passed foreign citizens’ personal information to Russian intelligence

The Russian Peace Foundation, which is headed by LDPR leader Leonid Slutsky, passed information about foreigners who were invited to visit Russia at the behest of the Slutsky’s organization to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (GRU). The Insider uncovered all of this through emails it has in its possession, including correspondence between employees of the 1st “European” department of the GRU.

According to The Insider, the 1st Directorate of the GRU is engaged in espionage abroad and recruits agents, including in Europe. The most powerful illegal GRU presences in Europe are located in Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, Germany and the Czech Republic. The GRU recruits actively in those countries, looking for politicians, military, intelligence officers, scientists, engineers working at defense companies, diplomats, and journalists. The GRU is interested in everything, from military and political secrets, to the latest technologies in the private sector.

In the e-mails, The Insider found files with screenshots of dozens of passports of foreign scientists, university professors, public figures, and religious figures.

The GRU primarily received information about French citizens from Slutsky’s foundation. Investigators also found information about citizens of the United States, Canada, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Slovenia, India, Brazil, Israel, and African countries. What the GRU did with the information it received is not specified.

Before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Slutsky previously arranged flights to Moscow for Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally party, and paid for tours to Crimea and Syria for politicians from other European countries promoting a pro-Kremlin agenda. Slutsky was also involved in fostering closer ties with politicians who support the “yellow vests” opposition movement in France and the far-right Alternative for Germany party.

The Insider notes that in September of this year, Leonid Slutsky received a commemorative plaque with the inscription: “Thank you for everything you do for our homeland, for being a true patriot” from the command of the 24th separate brigade of special forces of the GRU, which has fought in Syria and Ukraine.

Earlier, The Insider reported that Maria Khodynskaya-Golenishcheva, a close friend of Slutsky, sent operational maps with the location of combat units of opponents of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad’s regime to her GRU handler. The Russian military used the information to launch strikes against the units.