Polish prosecutors filed espionage charges against a Russian-Spanish man on Wednesday, days after he was released from custody through a prisoner swap.
Pablo Gonzalez was detained in Poland on February 28, 2022, just days after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and he was held in pretrial detention. He was released in a prisoner exchange between Russia and the West on August 1.
Gonzalez had a Russian passport with the name Pavel Alekseyevich Rubtsov, from his time living there before moving to Spain at age 9. He announced himself as a journalist, filing reports to Spanish media.
Prosecutors on Wednesday said he was being charged with spying for Russia's military intelligence service. In a statement, the prosecutor's office said that Gonzalez’s alleged actions "included obtaining and providing information, spreading disinformation and conducting operational reconnaissance."
He is accused of working on behalf of the Russian government from 2016 to 2022 in the cities of Warsaw and Przemysl, a staging area for international aid to Ukraine.
Investigations into suspected co-conspirators are ongoing, which includes a woman known as Magdalena Chi. She is believed to be Gonzalez’s ex-girlfriend.
Some information for this story came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
