All of Poland heard about his arrest and expulsion, and moreover, there was global media interest in González. What no one knows is that there is an important element missing from the spy story: it involves someone else, too.

Moscow, Vnukovo Airport, August 2024. Vladimir Putin waits for a plane of Russian spies exchanged for political prisoners. The plane lands, and in the crowd on the tarmac appears the figure of a shaven-headed man in his forties. Pablo González, aka Pavel Rubtsov, spent the last two and a half years in Polish custody.

. . .

Before being detained on the night of February 28, 2022, in a hotel in Przemyśl, Pablo González had been living and operating in Poland for over two years. That same night, Polish authorities also detained Natalia K. (whose name and initial we changed), a Polish freelance journalist, who also happened to be González’s partner. González was charged with involvement in foreign intelligence activities, while his partner was charged with accessory to espionage.

. . .

In time, the prosecutor’s office discovered additional evidence: materials that González had gathered, ostensibly as a journalist, while spying on Zhanna Nemtsova, the daughter of the murdered Russian opposition leader.

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