Anna Chapman's Comrades

Russian military intelligence failures from 2000 to 2011
2000, Japan On September 7, 2000, representatives of Japanese counterintelligence arrested Captain 3rd Rank Shigehiro Hagisaki during dinner in a Tokyo restaurant with Russian military attache Viktor Bogatenkov.

For a long time, the Japanese officer passed on to the representative of the Russian military intelligence information about the units and formations of the US Navy stationed on the territory of his country. After the arrest of Shigehiro Hagisaki, the Russian intelligence officer was expelled from the country.

2001, Bulgaria At the end of March 2001, three employees of the GRU were expelled from Bulgaria: military attache Captain 1st Rank Vladimir Lomakin, his deputy Colonel Sergei Vlasenko and embassy adviser Boris Smirnov.

This event was preceded by the detention by counterintelligence agencies of the former head of the analytical department of the military intelligence service of Bulgaria, as well as the director of the secret archive service of the country's defense ministry. According to the local press, it was these Bulgarian intelligence officers who transmitted information about the situation in the Balkans to Russian intelligence officers. In addition, they could transmit information regarding the mothballed spy network of the Bulgarian special services, data on the abuse of influential persons and politicians, information about wanted documents, persons, etc. Embassy adviser Boris Smirnov was also accused of trying to get into the national parliament of Bulgaria people who are well disposed towards Russia.

2004, Germany At the end of 2004, in the city of Amorbach, counterintelligence agencies of the Federal Republic of Germany detained Alexander Kuzmin, Consul General of the Russian Federation in Hamburg.

Information about military systems, about the latest German weapons, as well as the governing documents of the Bundeswehr, was provided to him by an agent who later turned out to be a double. After being detained and handed over to the Russian side, Alexander Kuzmin left the FRG.

2004, Qatar On February 13, 2004, the car of the ex-president of the unrecognized Republic of Ichkeria, Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, was blown up in the capital of Qatar, Doha. Two bodyguards died on the spot, Yandarbiev's 13-year-old son Daud was wounded, and the separatist leader himself was taken with severe injuries to the intensive care unit of one of the city hospitals, where he later died on the operating table. On February 18, 2004, local law enforcement authorities detained three employees of the Russian diplomatic mission in Qatar on suspicion of organizing a terrorist act: Alexander Fetisov, secretary of the Russian Embassy in Qatar (later released by local authorities), Anatoly Belashkov and Vasily Bogachev. The last two returned to their homeland only in December 2004 after long negotiations with the Qatari side.

2005, Germany Russian military intelligence officer Alexander Parfentiev, who served as an employee of the military attaché at the Russian embassy in Berlin, was detained in the spring of 2005. The German side claimed that Parfentiev managed to recruit a Bundeswehr officer and organize the collection of information. But later, the German soldier decided to turn himself in to the counterintelligence authorities with a confession. On March 10, 2005, before meeting with the agent, the Russian diplomat was detained by the German counterintelligence agencies. After being detained and handed over to the Russian side, GRU officer Parfentiev left Germany.

2007, Austria In June 2007, counterintelligence agencies of Austria detained Vladimir Vozhzhov, deputy head of the international cooperation department of Roskosmos. He was in Vienna as a member of the Russian delegation that arrived at the session of the UN Committee on Outer Space. After a harsh reaction from the Russian Foreign Ministry (Vladimir Vozhzhov had diplomatic immunity, but the Austrian side demanded that Moscow deprive him of this status and transfer it to local justice), the Roscosmos representative was expelled from Austria.

According to the Austrian press, the source of the Russian intelligence officer was an Austrian Air Force non-commissioned officer Harald Z., who served in a helicopter squadron. He began to cooperate with Russian military intelligence in 1995. According to one version of the local media, Harald had information about the combat readiness of the country's air force fleet, the availability of fuel and ammunition in military depots, information about the "friend or foe" recognition system, and also about the radio frequencies used in the Austrian Air Force. According to another version, Harald handed over to the Russian intelligence officer the technical documentation of the new Tiger combat helicopter, which is in service with a number of European countries. Another source of information for Vozhzhov could be the owner of the engineering and consulting company Werner Franz G. (citizen of Germany), who from 1992 to 2007 was the manager of one of the world's largest aircraft manufacturing companies, Eurocopter.