The Moscow court decided to arrest the Bulgarian investigative journalist Kristo Grozev in absentia, the RIA news agency reports.

Hristo GrozevPhoto: Julien de Rosa / AFP / Profimedia Images

Grozev’s reporting for the Bellingcat publication outraged the Kremlin.

He investigated the poisonings of Alexei Navalny, a Putin critic, and Russian double agent Sergei Skripal.

The RIA, citing a law enforcement source, reported that he is accused of facilitating the escape of Russian media editor Roman Dobrokhotov, who left Russia in 2021, Sky News reports.

Grozev keeps his whereabouts a secret for security reasons.

After the court ruling, Grozev wrote on Twitter: “As Dobrokhotov said: why don’t we poison in absentia and end it.”

Christo Grozev, the group’s chief investigator in Russia, said in February that he was forced to move from Austria because of the threat posed by Russian intelligence in that country, The Moscow Times reported.

The Bulgarian journalist lived in Vienna for almost 20 years, where he enjoyed the protection of the Austrian security services.

Far-reaching investigations in which Kristo Grozev participated

As Russia’s chief investigator, Grozev played a key role in the investigation into the alleged involvement of Russian intelligence services in the UK poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and Russian dissident Alexei Navalny on a flight to Siberia.

He was also involved in the investigation that identified two Russian servicemen believed to be involved in the downing of a Malaysia Airlines flight in eastern Ukraine in 2014 that killed 298 people.

In November of last year, the former commander of pro-Russian separatists in Donbas, Ihor Girkin, was sentenced in the Netherlands to life imprisonment for his participation in the downing of the plane. Together with him, a former Russian intelligence agent and another separatist leader from eastern Ukraine were convicted.

Russian authorities banned the investigative website Bellingcat in mid-July last year, an irony on the part of its founder at the time, as he had no legal or financial presence in Russia.

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