As part of a large-scale investigation, The Insider learned that a former member of the opposition Free Russia Forum was actually an officer of Russian military intelligence.
What is known about Russia's GRU officer Ivan Zhigarev
According to the investigators, they revealed the true identity of the activist Ivan Zhikharev, who participated in the Moscow Open School for Human Rights work.
In fact, this man's name is Ivan Zhigarev, and he participated in the operations of the GRU unit responsible for special operations abroad. Among them are the assassination attempt on former British intelligence agent Sergei Skripal and explosions at military warehouses in the Czech Republic, the investigation says.
In addition, it was found that the future agent of the Kremlin was born into the family of a Soviet soldier in East Germany, served in an army special forces unit, and studied at the GRU Military Academy.
It was also possible to find out about his several trips abroad with other military intelligence officers with false documents.
According to the publication, at the same time, he, his alleged colleagues — Anatoly Chepiga, Aleksandr Mishkin, and another officer, probably connected with the attempted assassination of the Bulgarian arms supplier Emilian Gebrev, made the trips.
A GRU officer became part of the Russian opposition
Zhigarev entered the Moscow Open School of Human Rights at the Sakharov Center seven years ago under the name Zhikharev.
In addition, it is reported that he joined the campaign to support human rights defenders in prison and coordinated the support of Kyrgyz human rights defender Azimzhan Askarov.
As journalists note, in 2017, together with other oppositionists, he developed "Putin's list" — a list of officials, businessmen, journalists and public figures against whom the oppositionists suggested Western countries impose sanctions.
Zhigarev stopped working with human rights defenders in 2021.
Interestingly, this happened only after his name appeared on a list of alleged military intelligence officers published by the French authorities.
