The prosecutor's office of the city of Elbasan in Albania filed charges of espionage against Russian citizen Mikhail Zorin, who entered the territory of a local military plant, and two of his acquaintances, Russian citizen Svetlana Timofeeva and Ukrainian citizen Fyodor Mikhailov, who were waiting outside the fence. It is reported by Reporter.al.
Zorin is also charged with resistance to law enforcement agencies and illegal possession of edged weapons. All three deny the allegations and describe themselves as diggers photographing abandoned properties. It is also known that they were taken into custody.
According to social media, Timofeeva, known on Instagram as Lana Sator, has visited Albania twice. In March 2019, she entered another arms factory in Albania, in the town of Polichan. In 2018, Timofeeva published photos from the Kuchova airbase. Diggerka has published several of her books with photographs of abandoned sites. One of them was released in Sweden in June 2019, and it contains photos of socialist era buildings from Albania.
On August 12, Zorin published photos of boxes with cartridges in his own public in Telegram. According to Albanian law enforcement officers, he arrived in the country in early August.
According to Reporter.al, Mikhailov also posted photos of industrial ruins on his social networks.
Problems of diggers in the land of bunkers. What is known about the detention of Russian woman Lana Sator in Albania
The Elbasan prosecutor's office believes that digging is just a cover for them.
“There is always a cover story. They are either journalists, or bloggers, or photographers,” Elbasan prosecutor Kreshnik Ayazi said, adding that he himself participated in the interrogation of the detainees.
Ayazi said that the seized items did not contain any equipment that could be use for spying other than cameras.
The detention of two Russians and a Ukrainian in Albania became known yesterday. According to the local police, Russian Mikhail Zorin entered the territory of a military plant near the city of Gramsci on the evening of August 20 and tried to photograph objects located there. When he was spotted, he “sprayed a nerve agent into two soldiers.”
Near the plant, the police stopped a Chevrolet car in which there were his acquaintances, 33-year-old Russian citizen Svetlana Timofeeva and 25-year-old Ukrainian citizen Fedor Mikhailov.
Reporter.al reports that the Gramsci plant has not been used for 30 years, and is guarded by only two soldiers from the Albanian army.