Belgian authorities accuse Kirill Logvinov, Russia’s permanent representative to the European Union, of being a spy for the Russian intelligence service.
Specifically, according to merkur.de, the 48-year-old is said to work for the Russian foreign intelligence service SWR. Logvinov is currently the highest Russian representative within the EU. He has been acting head of the Moscow mission in Brussels for a year. Vladimir Chizhov previously stepped down after 17 years in office. In his farewell speech in September 2022, he accused the EU of “burning bridges” without considering the war in Ukraine.
Rumors of espionage last year
According to media reports, rumors and suspicions against Logvinov were already circulating last year. At the time, a dispute over the Russian diplomat broke out in EU circles, as reported by SPIEGEL, citing insider sources. At the time, Belgian counter-intelligence strongly advocated adding the Russian diplomat to the list of people to be expelled as an alleged spy, but to no avail. The 48-year-old has frequently been noticed in the past for his criticism of the West and its role in the Ukraine conflict.
Image: Kremlin.ru, Vladimir Putin (2022-12-14), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (image size modified)
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