WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish prosecutors said Wednesday that they formally indicted a Russian-Spanish man on espionage charges, after Poland freed him from prison earlier this month so that he could be included in a prisoner swap between Russia and the West.
Pavel Rubtsov, better known as Pablo González, was arrested on Feb. 28, 2022, days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in Przemysl, a Polish town near Ukraine’s border. He had presented himself as a Spanish freelance journalist and was filing reports to Spanish media. He had lived in Poland since 2019.
He was held in detention in Poland until he was included in the prisoner exchange on Aug. 1, and is now in Russia. It wasn’t immediately clear why Poland waited until after he had left the country to indict him.
Born Pavel Rubtsov in 1982 in then-Soviet Moscow, González went to Spain with his Spanish mother at age 9, where he became a citizen and received the Spanish name of Pablo González Yagüe. He went into journalism, working for outlets Público, La Sexta and Gara, a Basque nationalist newspaper.
The head of U.K. foreign intelligence agency MI6, Sir Richard Moore, said at the Aspen Security Forum in 2022 that González was an “illegal” who was arrested in Poland after “masquerading as a Spanish journalist" and that he was trying to go into Ukraine to be part of Russian destabilizing efforts there.
The term “illegal” refers to spies who operate under nonofficial cover, meaning that they don’t benefit from diplomatic immunity.
According to investigative media reports, the man also sought contacts with Russian dissidents living abroad and had contacts with Basque and Catalan separatist movements, which are suspected of links to the Kremlin.
The national prosecutor’s office in Warsaw said that a prosecutor in the city of Lublin filed the indictment on Aug. 9 to the District Court in Przemysl. They identified the indicted man as Pablo G. Y. and Pavel R., withholding last names according to Polish privacy laws. However, the details make it clear that the case refers to the suspected GRU agent Rubtsov.
The defendant is accused of committing an offense related to espionage, which can bring a prison term of three to 15 years.
It wasn't immediately clear if Rubtsov would be tried in absentia.
The statement said that the defendant is accused of providing information to Russian military intelligence from April 2016 to February 2022 in Przemysl, Warsaw and elsewhere, "which could cause damage to the Republic of Poland, including as a NATO member state."
It also said his activity included “spreading disinformation and conducting operational reconnaissance."
The 42-year old stepped off a plane and shook hands with President Vladimir Putin when he landed in Moscow on Aug. 1. He was wearing a T-shirt with the image of a Star Wars stormtrooper and the words “Your empire needs you."
The national prosecutor’s office said that investigations are taking place separately into an unspecified number of other people, including a woman they identified only as Magdalena Ch. The woman, known among journalists in Poland to be his ex-girlfriend, refused to comment.
Poland indicts man with spying for Russia after freeing him in swap and investigates coconspirators
Poland indicts man with spying for Russia after freeing him in swap and investigates coconspirators
A man identified as Pablo González, a freelance journalist from Spain who had been based in Poland since 2019, second from left with shaved head, listens to Russian President Vladimir Putin, back to a camera, speaking to released Russian prisoners, part of the biggest prisoner swap between the United States and Russia in post-Soviet history, upon their arrival at the Vnukovo government airport outside Moscow, Russia, on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. Gonzalez had another passport and another name: Pavel Rubtsov. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
MIAMI (AP) — People across Florida were given notice Sunday that Milton, for now just a tropical storm off the coast of Mexico, could intensify rapidly into a major hurricane before slamming midweek into the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast.
Tropical Storm Milton's center was about 860 miles (1,385 kilometers) west-southwest of Tampa, Florida, early Sunday, heading east at 5 mph (7 kph) with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (95 kph), the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
“Milton is moving slowly but is expected to strengthen rapidly,” the center said. “There is increasing confidence that a powerful hurricane with life-threatening hazards will be affecting portions of the Florida west coast around the middle of this week.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday that while it remains to be seen just where Milton will strike, it's clear that Florida is going to be hit hard — “I don't think there's any scenario where we don't have major impacts at this point.”
“You have time to prepare — all day today, all day Monday, probably all day Tuesday to be sure your hurricane preparedness plan is in place,” the governor said. “Know your evacuation zone — there will be mandatory and voluntary evacuations.”
DeSantis said as many as 4,000 National Guard troops are helping the Florida Division of Emergency Management and the Florida Department of Transportation to remove debris, and he declared a state of emergency in 35 counties ahead of Milton. He said Floridians should prepare for more power outages and disruption.
“All available state assets ... are being marshaled to help remove debris,” DeSantis said. “We're going 24-7 ... it's all hands on deck."
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell defended her agency's response to the destruction wrought by Hurricane Helene after Republicans’ false claims, amplified by former President Donald Trump, created a frenzy of misinformation across devastated communities.
“This kind of rhetoric is not helpful to people and it’s really a shame we’re putting politics ahead of helping people,” Criswell told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. It's created fear and mistrust among residents against the thousands of FEMA employees and volunteers on the ground across the southeast, she said.
Despite this, Criswell said the agency is already preparing for Milton, well before it's clear exactly where it will move across the Florida peninsula this week. “We’re working with the state there to understand what their requirements are going to be, so we can have those in place before it makes landfall,” she said.
The hurricane center said Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, the Florida Peninsula, the Florida Keys and the northwestern Bahamas should monitor the system’s progress. Heavy rainfall was expected Sunday ahead of the storm itself, and will likely then combine with Milton's rainfall to flood waterways and streets in Florida, where forecasters said up to a foot (30 centimeters) of rain could fall in places through Wednesday night.
“There is an increasing risk of life-threatening storm surge and wind impacts for portions of the west coast of the Florida Peninsula beginning late Tuesday or Wednesday. Residents in these areas should ensure they have their hurricane plan in place, follow any advice given by local officials, and check back for updates to the forecast,” the center said.
The Atlantic hurricane season has become more active as rescuers in the U.S. Southeast continue to search for people unaccounted for in the wake of Hurricane Helene, which left a huge trail of death and catastrophic damage from Florida into the Appalachian mountains.
Hurricane Kirk diminished to a Category 2 hurricane in the open Atlantic early, with top winds of 105 mph (165 kph), sending large swells and “life-threatening surf and rip current conditions” to Bermuda and northward along the U.S. and Canadian coasts, the center said. Hurricane Leslie also was moving northwest over the open Atlantic, with top winds of 85 mph (140 kph) but posing no threats to land.
This GOES-16 GeoColor satellite image taken at 4:50 p.m. EDT and provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows Tropical Storm Milton, center, off the coast of Mexico in the Gulf of Mexico, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (NOAA via AP)
