According to reports in the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, the Russian spy Pablo González—also known as Pavel Rubtsov—had tracked Alexei Navalny (the Russian opposition leader who died in a penal colony this past February) and compiled a report on the clinics in Barcelona and Lausanne where Navalny was treated. Operating under the cover of a Western journalist in Poland, the Russian spy was arrested by Polish authorities following Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He was charged with espionage and returned to Russia on August 1, 2024, as part of a prisoner exchange between Moscow and the West.
Now González, who has regained his freedom, has published a lengthy article on the naiz.eus portal, painting himself as a victim of the Polish justice system. A detailed overview of his piece was posted on the X platform by former Military Counterintelligence Service colonel Mariusz Kozłowski.
“After spending almost two and a half years in a maximum-security prison, and while my rights continue to be violated in the European Union, I am speaking out,”
writes González.
As Kozłowski points out, González thanks people from various regions of Spain for their support and complains about “media attempts at lynching” following his release in the prisoner exchange—further alleging that it is a provocation by NATO services, including Poland, aimed at intimidating him. He also decries the poor conditions in the Polish prison: searches, a cell with mold, a 20-kilogram weight loss from poor-quality food, and the absence of psychological care.
The Russian spy additionally claims he was hindered from contacting his family and that a hospital stay greatly worsened his health. He also asserts that Russia “saved” him.
“González claims he was persecuted for criticizing the standardization of nations (e.g. USAID) and the policies of the West, rather than for espionage,”
Kozłowski notes.