The Austrian authorities warned Grozev about threats to his safety

Bellingcat investigator Hrist Grozev, who recently left Austria due to threats to his security, said that the Austrian authorities had warned him about the threats. The Financial Times writes about it.

According to Grozev, it was the representatives of the authorities who informed him that he was “actively sought by assassins hired by Russia with the help of local Russian agents” and advised him not to return from North America to Vienna, where he lived for 20 years, – writes the Bulgarian service of Radio Liberty.

Grozev also said that a former officer of the Austrian special services, acting at the behest of Russian intelligence, gained access to his personal data.

Grozev is one of the authors of the investigations into the 2014 crash of the Malaysian Boeing over the Donbass and the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and Alexei Navalny. At the end of December last year, Grozev was declared wanted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia – it is not clear what exactly he is accused of.

The investigator reported that he left Austria on February 2. On the same day, it became known that the Austrian authorities declared four Russian diplomats persona non grata. According to the Kurier newspaper, Russian diplomats are suspected of espionage. It was not reported whether the expulsion was related to the Grozev case.

Today – on the day of the publication of the next details about the threats – the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia announced the expulsion of four Austrian diplomats, calling it a retaliatory measure. The Austrian ambassador who was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was also told about “complications arising with the issuance of visas for official Russian delegations.