TIRANA, Aug. 22, 2022 – Two Russians and one Ukrainian have been arrested and formally charged by Albanian authorities in a suspected espionage case, with one of the Russians caught trying to break into a remote military plant and using a chemical spray to attack the soldiers that caught him.
The trio had earlier been noticed trying to take pictures of the military plant in the remote area of Gramsh in central Albania. Albanian authorities said the two Russian citizens, M.Z., 24, and S.T., 33, and Ukrainian passport holder, F.T., 25, were arrested Saturday night. The use of initials in police press releases is common practice, but the full names were published in some Albanian media.
Intelligence officials are investigating the incident, and there are still details being hammered out on the case, but Prime Minister Edi Rama said on social media it was a case of “suspected of espionage,” calling it a “delicate event.”
Travel bloggers or spies?
The three detained have told police they are tourists, according to local media reports, and that they like to take pictures of old buildings. New information available shows two of those arrested have extensive social media accounts with photos from a myriad of former communist places, featuring old and dilapidated military buildings.
Local media report that one of the detained Russians in Albania is Svetlana Timofeeva. She has an extensive travel history as a photographer and social media personality, and was the companion of a fellow Russian arrested in January in Egypt. He had to be saved by the Russian Foreign Ministry, according to Christo Grozev, a Bulgarian journalist and Kremlin critic with Bellingcat, an investigative journalism group that specializes on Russia’s intelligence operations abroad.
“This can all be an innocent collection of well-funded hobbyist photographers traveling around the world (together) and blogging. Or it could be a very good cover for intelligence. We’ll find out one way or another very soon,” Grozev wrote on Twitter.
Caution urged until investigation concluded
A top expert at the Albanian Institute of International Studies urged caution until a full investigation takes place as the coverage of the event in Albania seems to have harped back to the Cold War era, when the isolationist communist regime of the time saw spies of the West and East everywhere.
“Back under communism, it seemed like Albania was the top target of the West, NATO, and sometimes both NATO and the Warsaw Pact at the same time. That was clearly the regime’s narrative,” Albert Rakipi of AIIS told Tirana Times, adding that on a philosophical level, “external enemies and threats as the basis of creating fear is a reality of dictatorships and isolation, which Albania knew well under communism, and, unfortunately, maybe making a comeback in today’s world too.”
He added: “Of course rules need to be followed, but the Gramsh and Polican plants are essentially dilapidated and useless military leftovers of the communist regime,” also pointing out to a group of Czech tourists briefly detained at another military plant for taking pictures, the day after the Russians’ arrest.
Both the interior and defense ministers of Albania said Monday that the plants are indeed currently decommissioned, and there is no activity in them, but are protected as military areas.
Ukraine invasion has Albania on edge
Albania is a NATO member and increasingly a strategic location for the alliance’s efforts to ward off external threats.
There are growing calls for Albania to suspend visa-free access to Russian citizens, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Both countries have enjoyed that privilege for several years during the summer months as Albania hoped to attract tourists during the pandemic slump.
The Gramsh Military Plant’s current use is not clear, but the latest public information available says it is currently not in use. Before it was used as a site to take apart old ammunition and to repair military equipment. Built in 1962, it was used in the earlier days to make AK-47 assault rifles for Albania’s military.
Albanian Defense Minister Niko Peleshi said in a press conference the government hoped to reconstruct and restart work at both former communist military plants, modernizing them to produce munitions that follow NATO’s standards as the security needs in Europe have changed. But there was no indication that there was any work currently taking place at the plants.
Attempt to enter Albanian military base, attack on guards
The incident, which has been dominating Albanian media for days and garnered a lot of international attention started on Saturday afternoon, when two Albanian soldiers guarding the Gramsh base approached to detain a Russian man who had entered the territory of the base and was taking pictures. The Russian sprayed them with a chemical on their faces in an attempt to get away. A scuffle ensued and the man was arrested. The other two were picked up by police as they were trying to leave the scene in a Ukrainian-plated sports vehicle.
“The guard noticed suspicious movements around the facility. He immediately informed the head of the guards that a person entered the territory and tried to take pictures,” the Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
The two guards were sent to hospital in Tirana and were feeling better as of Sunday morning.
“The specialized doctors … carried out full consultations and examinations for the two soldiers exposed to irritant gas, who are receiving the necessary medical treatment and are in a stable condition, without acute poisoning problems,”the Ministry of Health said.
Albanian authorities say they have sought information at the Russian and Ukrainian embassies in Tirana about the citizens of the two countries involved in the incident, but provided no details on any responses.
