Outwardly, the 60-year-old man appeared as a successful businessman whose company had a turnover of around half a billion kroner.
In reality, he must have acted on behalf of the GRU – now he has been charged on suspicion of gross illegal intelligence activities against Sweden and the USA.
– The whole purpose of this company has been to go to the hands of the Russian military complex, says Henrik Olin, chamber prosecutor, National Security Unit.
“Operation Spear” culminated early in the morning on November 22 last year – when the Security Police, the Armed Forces and the National Task Force raided the man’s villa in Nacka municipality.
On Monday, charges were brought against the 60-year-old, which shows that he worked to help the Russian military complex. Among other things, the man is said to have procured advanced technology via his Russian contacts, including a former GRU colonel – and thus managed to circumvent the strict sanctions imposed on trade with Russia.
The man is said to have been one of several Russian agents who procured technology under cover for the state-owned Russian company Radioexport. A company that should have been a function of the Russian Air Force and the Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos. But also acted on behalf of several branches within the Russian military complex.
– Radioexport was a state company. I assume that this company had a first department, special department. As a rule, active officers work there, says the man in questioning.
Was assigned dagger with built-in USB memory
According to his own statement, the man’s father was a colonel in the Russian army and worked at the KGB in department 9, which after the fall of the Soviet Union is called “FSO, Federal guard force”.
He says that he was also awarded a dagger with a built-in USB memory and an emblem from his contacts at Radioexport. According to his own statement, the gifts come from a person employed at “GRU or SVR”. SVR is above all an intelligence service that collects against political
objectives, science and technology and participates in influence operations.
This after he carried out extensive trade with a number of countries through the company, where the end customer was Radioexport.
– It involves extensive purchasing of the products from the USA, Sweden and other countries in the West and Asia. All this by the fact that the person now indicted has been this link in Russia being able to acquire these products, which in one way or another they cannot produce or get to their own military apparatus, says Henrik Olin.
In the secret Russian deals, according to Säpo’s investigation, the 60-year-old must have used false identities, among other things. During the house search, SÄPO found several documents with different names linked to different companies.
The accused man denies any crime. His trial is scheduled to last seven days, starting on September 4.