Apr 30, 2024 20:00:00

It has been revealed that a Russian spy couple ran a secret base for the Russian Armed Forces' General Staff's Main Intelligence Directorate in Greece, disguised as a hotel

Unit 29155 of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff's Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU)

has been reported to be involved in the bombing of an ammunition warehouse and the poisoning of an arms dealer. An investigation by The Insider, an independent media outlet dealing with Russia-related topics, has revealed that a Greek hotel run by a couple of Czech nationals was used as a hideout for Unit 29155.

Czech illegals: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe
https://theins.ru/en/politics/271205

The GRU is a Russian intelligence agency whose members engage in espionage outside of Russia. Traces of GRU activity have been found in Japan, and in 2012, a maritime self-defense officer was arrested on suspicion of passing secret information about the Self-Defense Forces to a GRU spy.

Within the GRU, Unit 29155 is considered to be the unit responsible for carrying out direct sabotage operations such as 'blowups of munitions depots in Bulgaria,' 'poisoning of a Bulgarian arms dealer,' and 'sabotage on NATO territory.'

An investigation by The Insider has revealed that Unit 29155 was using the Villa Elena hotel in Flama, Halkidiki, northern Greece as a secret base.

Villa Elena is a three-storey building with a pool and is listed as a property on travel sites such as TripAdvisor. However, since The Insider began investigating in 2021, Villa Elena has not accepted a single booking.

Villa Elena is run by Czech couple Nikolai and Elena Shaposhnikov, who are also Russian spies, according to an investigation by The Insider.

Nikolai Shaposhnikov was born in 1961 in Verodvinsk, northwestern Russia, as the son of a military engineer. He graduated from the Azerbaijani military school in 1983 and was appointed commander of a motorized sniper unit , and was deployed to Afghanistan from 1983 to 1986. In 1985, he divorced his first wife and married Elena Shaposhnikov (née Lisetskaya).

After the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, Nikolai was reassigned to what was then Czechoslovakia. He was medically discharged in 1990 and assigned to Kiev as a reserve officer. However, after the Soviet withdrawal from Czechoslovakia, Nikolai presented himself to Czechoslovakian authorities and applied for political asylum. Nikolai's asylum was officially granted in 1991, and in 1992, Elena and her children were also granted asylum.

When the Czech Republic became independent, the Shaposhnikovs applied for citizenship and successfully obtained Czech nationality. According to The Insider, the citizenship application submitted by the Shaposhnikovs contained a lot of false information, such as 'hiding the fact that Nikolai was a former soldier,' 'hiding the fact that Nikolai had a child with his ex-wife,' and 'falsely stating that Elena had returned her passport issued in Ukraine.' The Insider speculates that the reason the false application was approved was 'probably due to bribery.'

In 2009, the Shaposhnikovs bought a villa in Halkidiki, northern Greece. They then moved to Greece in 2010 and started running the villa as a hotel called 'Villa Elena.' Since then, spies from Unit 29155 have stayed at Villa Elena on multiple occasions. For example, it has been confirmed that members of Unit 29155 stayed at Villa Elena and were in contact with the Shaposhnikovs when the Bulgarian munitions depot was blown up in 2014.