Poland extradites alleged GRU spy, sparking controversy in Spain

Poland handed over GRU officer Pavel Rubtsov. Why was he so important to the Kremlin? The Spanish media are buzzing.

The case of Pavel Rubtsov, who claims to be a Spanish journalist, has caused a stir in Spain. Rubtsov was accused by Polish authorities of espionage activities for the Russian military intelligence known as GRU. His release has become a major topic in Spanish media.

Many wondered who Rubtsov was and why he was so important to the Kremlin that they decided to exchange him for valuable prisoners to Russian services. "Who is he? Why was he so important to the Kremlin that they decided to exchange him for prisoners valuable to Russian services?" – questions were being asked about Rubtsov.

There is no doubt that Rubtsov was born in Moscow and received Spanish citizenship at 9. He then settled in the municipality of Guernica, in the Basque Country autonomous community in the north.

One of the most intriguing aspects concerning Rubtsov is the question of his origins. The man possesses a passport under the name Pablo Gonzalez and a similar document issued by Russia for Pavel Rubtsov.

Spanish media present two versions regarding Rubtsov's origin. According to one of them, Gonzalez's Spanish origin is thanks to his mother, who for some time lived in the USSR after marrying a Russian, Alexei Rubtsov. After a few years, the marriage fell apart.

The portal "The Objective" established that after the divorce, Rubtsov's mother, Maria Elena Gonzalez, left the USSR in 1991 and returned to Spain. There, at the civil registry office, after presenting a document confirming the divorce, she obtained Spanish documents for her son under the name Pablo Gonzalez Yague.

Another version, presented by Friday’s "El Pais", states that Pablo Gonzalez received Spanish citizenship because he is the grandson of a Spanish citizen who ended up in the USSR during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).

The Madrid daily "El Pais" assessed that Pablo Gonzalez's relationship with his father, Alexei Rubtsov, who lived in Moscow, led to his detention by Polish authorities. It seemed suspicious that he used as many as three surnames in Poland: Pablo Gonzalez, Pavel Rubtsov, and Alexei Rubtsov. The latter belongs to his father, who also seemed suspicious of Polish services and sent Gonzalez €352 monthly.

The wife of the "Spanish journalist," Oihana Goiriena, with whom Gonzalez has three children, explained to the Spanish media in 2022 that the father regularly transferred these funds to his son's account as money from the alleged rental of Moscow apartments, which once belonged to Rubtsov’s grandmother. Goiriena claimed that, unfortunately, it was sometimes impossible to make a living from his freelance journalism work.

In Friday's statements to the media, Goiriena thanked the Basque Country autonomous community authorities for securing her husband's release. However, she expressed dissatisfaction with the Spanish government's passive stance. "I don’t expect, nor do I want any call from the Spanish government. They should spare themselves such a gesture," she added.

Spanish media remind that Rubtsov’s wife had repeatedly appealed in recent months to the Spanish authorities and the international public for help, claiming that her husband was being held in a prison in Radom under poor conditions.

According to Goiriena, quoted by "El Pais", Rubtsov could only walk in prison for one hour daily in a yard measuring 4x7 metres.

"El Paris" informed that Reporters Without Borders and other journalist organisations from Spain and abroad reported multiple times over 29 months about the extremely bad conditions under which Gonzalez was held, without respect for the presumption of his innocence, adding that the organisation Amnesty International also intervened on behalf of the inmate.

Gonzalez was released as part of a prisoner exchange conducted on Thursday at 10:00 GMT in Ankara between the West and Russia. Among the 26 released individuals were Russian oppositionist Vladimir Kara-Murza, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, and "Wall Street Journal" journalist Evan Gershkovich.