A Russian intelligence chief who is attempting to ‘sow division and chaos across Europe’ is among 11 of Vladimir Putin’s operatives sanctioned by the UK in the wake of the Dawn Sturgess Inquiry.
Colonel Denis Alexandrovich Smolyaninov is assessed to be trying to ‘drive a wedge between NATO allies’ as he heads a clandestine team with naval, special operations and other military experience.
The psychological operations specialist is part of the GU military intelligence service, formerly known as the GRU, which conducted the hit on Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in 2018.
The operation claimed the life of Dawn Sturgess after she unwittingly sprayed herself with Novichok, and led to a three-year inquiry which concluded yesterday with a final report and the fresh round of sanctions issued by the UK government.
Smolyaninov’s tactics include using a ‘chain of curators’ to sow unrest in Western nations, with those at the end of the line often unaware they are working for the Russian special services.
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What does Denis Smolyaninov do?
Smolyaninov, 49, has primarily been involved in trying to destabilise Ukraine, including through sabotage operations and other dark arts, although he is thought to have a much wider remit.
His activities, known as ‘hybrid warfare’, were investigated by The Dossier Centre, which tracks the criminal activity of people associated with the Kremlin, before yesterday’s announcement.
Smolyaninov’s comrades include 10 other GU operatives who were also sanctioned, as well as Viktor Lukovenko, who is being held in Kyrgyzstan on suspicion of recruiting mercenaries to fight in Ukraine.
A Dossier Centre investigator told Metro: ‘Denis Smolyaninov and his network of coordinators provide an inside look at one model of how the Russian intelligence services are alleged to organise sabotage operations across Europe. These schemes tend to be low-cost, deniable, and scalable, particularly because some recruits may not fully understand that they are acting on behalf of the Russian state.
‘According to the Dossier Center, since 2022 there have been more frequent cases of recruiting criminal elements for such acts, for example in the Lukovenko case, as well as Russian-speakers holding EU passports.
‘This approach appears to be extending to the UK as well, where there has reportedly been a recent increase in incidents involving people recruited via Telegram. One of the toughest challenges for law enforcement is obtaining intelligence about planned attacks at the very earliest stages – something that, so far, rarely happens.’
Spooks ‘organise anti-NATO rallies’
Putin is ‘morally responsible’ for the death of Dawn Sturgess, 44, after she sprayed herself with nerve agent from a fake perfume bottle discarded by the hitmen, according to inquiry chair Lord Hughes.
Three GU agents, with the aliases Alexander Petrov, Ruslan Boshirov and Sergey Fedotov, were identified as being the operational team responsible for the Salisbury attack in 2018, which the Skripals narrowly survived.
The UK expelled 23 Russian diplomats in the wake of the hit, removing the embassy cover that nations traditionally use for spycraft.
Putin’s intelligence and security services have since switched focus to using recruits from other countries, including the UK and Bulgaria, contacted through remote channels such as Telegram.
The approach is evident in the recruiting of Dylan Earl, the ringleader in an arson attack on a warehouse in east London used to house humanitarian aid and StarLink systems destined for Ukraine.
As a high-ranking GU officer with intelligence skills, Smolyaninov appears to have risen to the fore at a time when it is difficult and dangerous for the agency to use its own personnel in foreign states.
His activities have been found by the Dossier Centre to include recruiting pro-Russians, criminals or activists on the far right or left.
Smolyaninov’s dedicated GU team then uses the proxies to carry out sabotage, protests and attacks abroad, with the structure subdivided into operational units with different specialisms.
The modus operandi involves ‘hiding the true customers of events behind a chain of curators’, according to the centre.
One unnamed ‘curator’ told the colonel that small rallies opposing war and NATO could be held ‘from London to Athens’.
Slogans would include ‘NATO is our common enemy’ and ‘no to dragging our country into the war’, the centre reported.
How did Smolyaninov start out?
Born in Chelyabinsk, Russia, Smolyaninov graduated from a military aviation school and served in Smolensk, to the west of the country, before moving to St Petersburg in the mid-noughties to work for the GRU.
He joined Unit 64501, which processes and analyses flows of information.
The spymaster has since sent mercenaries to the Donbas in eastern Ukraine, supervised two private military contractors and deployed an agent network in Ukraine before the full-scale invasion.
According to a European Union document in 2024, he ‘specialises in psychological operations’ and was in charge of the GU’s Ukrainian operation. His entry in a list of Russian operatives states that he uses Telegram ‘to spread disinformation’ and ‘recruits agents for sabotage’ in Europe and to sow division between NATO states.
Sanctioned Russian intelligence officers
*The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (the GRU)
*Denis Aleksandrovich Smolyaninov
*Vladimir Lipchenko
*Yuriy Alekseyevich Sizov
*Boris Alekseyevich Antonov
*Anatoliy Vladimirovich Istomin
*Igor Andreyevich Bochka
*Aleksey Andreyevich Umets
*Denis Igorevich Denisenko
*Dmitriy Yuryevich Goloshubov
*Pavel Vyacheslavovich Yershov
*Nikolai Yuryevich Kozachek
‘Sanctions are public warning’
The GU is ‘actively preparing explosions, arson and damage to infrastructure’ in Europe, aimed at slowing down the supply of weapons to Ukraine and eroding support for the country, according to the EU.
The agency in its entirety has also been sanctioned by the UK government, which said yesterday that the service was ‘seeking to destabilise Ukraine and attempting to sow chaos and disorder across Europe.’
The GU was found to have been responsible for targeting Yulia with X-agent malware before Unit 29155 attempted to murder her and her father, a former Russian intelligence officer, five years later.
Kevin Riehle, an expert in intelligence and security, told Metro that while Smolyaninov had not been connected to the Salisbury attack, the sanctions were being used to send a message to Russia.
‘Sanctioning the GU under the old name, the GRU, as an entire entity will give the UK government freedom to act against anyone connected to it,’ he said. ‘Any GU activities will be considered hostile. But it also possibly closes the door to clandestine negotiations with GU entities.
‘Such contacts happen occasionally for messaging purposes.
‘I am surprised that the UK government has not adopted the GU’s current name, as that is what it is legally called in Russia since 2010.
‘Sanctioning it by its old name will likely have less legal impact in Russia.’
Mr Riehle, of Brunel University London, told Metro that Smolyaninov had already been in plain view before the latest sanctions.
‘These types of public sanction declarations are almost like public intelligence sharing,’ he said.
‘They put countries on notice, saying to watch out for certain dangerous individuals. This has been happening since the Cold War, when the Americans commonly shared the names of arrested or expelled people.
‘It is in effect saying if this approaches your embassy or tries to enter your country, you cannot claim not to have known what they were up to.’
Keir Starmer yesterday hailed the sanctions as ‘the latest step in our unwavering defence of European security’.
The Prime Minister said the UK is continuing to ‘squeeze Russia’s finances and strengthen Ukraine’s position at the negotiating table.’
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