The man charged with espionage is an officer in Russian intelligence – NRK Norway – Overview of news from various parts of the country
The police security service (PST) believes that José Assis Giammaria is actually Russian Mikhail Valerievich Mikushin (44).
Giammaria was a visiting researcher at the University of Tromsø with a Brazilian passport, but stayed arrested by the police on Monday.
On Friday, the man was detained for four weeks. He has consented to detention, but denies criminal guilt.
On Friday afternoon, researcher Christo Grozev in the excavation network Bellingcat will provide new information about the man.
– We believe we have solid evidence that he is a GRU officer who travels around the world with a Brazilian identity, says Grozev to NRK.
(Read more about the evidence further down in the case)
The accused man’s defender Marijana Lozic does not want to comment on the information from Bellingcat. She said earlier Friday that the man pleaded not guilty.
– Good job, Norway
Grozev says the story has similarities to other spies they believe they have exposed. The researcher himself published the information on Twitter on Friday afternoon.
– Good job, Norway – you have taken an officer from the GRU, he wrote on Twitter.
VG has a collaboration with Bellingcat, and was the first to come up with this information.
Brazilian identity
The excavation network Bellingcat is known for its investigation of events in Eastern Europe. Grozev is the main researcher in matters about Russia. He has previously helped to identify Russian agents who were involved the attack on Sergei Skripal.
The man who was detained for four weeks on Friday has been in Norway with what PST believes is a false identity.
PST believes the man is a so-called “illegal”. That is, a person who has built up an identity as an ordinary citizen, while quietly working for foreign intelligence.
– We believe it is likely that he is not who he claims to be with the Brazilian passport, says police attorney Thomas Blom in PST.
PST believes the man works for one of the Russian intelligence services.
This is how they found skin
Bellingcat researcher Grozev says they are in contact with people who have access to the driver’s license register.
There they found a driver’s license which they believe corresponds to the accused man.
– Microsoft Azure (and our eyes) confirms that it is the same person, Grozev wrote when he posted the photos on Twitter.
After the researchers thought they had confirmed the man’s identity, they checked him against an address register.
– Bingo! He was registered at the address of the dormitory of the GRU Academy. That means he’s at least a colonel! writes Grozev on Twitter.
In the interview with NRK, Grozev says that everyone who graduates from this academy has at least this degree.
Must have traveled to Russia several times
What Grozev says they didn’t find was the man’s passport.
– We were told by our contacts that the passport file was missing. The only people who can have passport photos removed are the security service.
The now accused man is said to have left Russia in 2006. The Bellingcat researcher believes they have found traces of at least one visit the man is said to have had in Russia after that.
– In the summer of 2016 he was in Russia when he got his driver’s license, and in 2020 when we traced his online shopping to an address in Moscow, Grozev says to NRK.
The Russian embassy denied knowledge
The man who came to Norway with a Brazilian identity has been a visiting researcher at the University of Tromsø where he is part of the research group “The Gray Zone”.
The group deals with topics such as social security, preparedness and hybrid threats.
The Russian embassy has previously denied any knowledge of this man.
– Generally speaking, recently spy mania has been actively promoted in Norway. Russian fishing vessels, Russian research ships, drone flights, photography and the like are mentioned in this context, the embassy wrote to NRK earlier this week.
The embassy further writes that public agencies, private companies and individuals are all now suspected of espionage in Norway.