Meduza tells the story of Russian activist recruited by police and sent to Georgia to spy on immigrants

Vsevolod Osipov, a member of the Libertarian Party of Russia, was recruited by the Centre for Combating Extremism, a unit of the Russian police also known as Centre E, to spy on activists in Russia and Georgia, Meduza reports.

In January 2021, the activist was detained by the police while attending a protest in support of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny. Osipov was taken to a police station, where he saw Roma Korkh, a fellow party member. His real name turned out to be Roman Podboronov: he was a police officer tasked with infiltrating the Libertarian Party of Russia.

Osipov was scared into cooperating with the investigation, and later with Centre E.

“You’re an alright guy. Let’s meet and talk in a few days,” the undercover policeman told Osipov.

“I realised right there that I was being recruited,” the activist recalls.

Podboronov attempted to convince Osipov to testify against fellow party member Ivan Chinarov. His last “objective” was to visit Georgia to spy on immigrants.

“Don’t ask any questions, find everything out as you talk to people, suck up to chairman of the Libertarian Party [Yaroslav] Konvey and [project manager at Free Russia Foundation Anton] Mikhalchuk,” the activist recalled his task.

Osipov points out that he tried to “trick” the police by giving them false information. The activist’s friend Chinarov saw his chats with a Centre E officer that confirmed this.

Over the past few months, Osipov regularly received messages from Centre E officer Roman Podboronov and FSB officer Andrey asking him where he was.

The activist cut all contact with them after 24 February.