The Czech police have put on the wanted list the head of military unit No. 29155 of the GRU of the Russian Ministry of Defense, General Andrei Averyanov — the investigation considers him involved in explosions at military weapons depots. The Insider drew attention to the update in the wanted database.
As the publication emphasizes, in Averyanov’s wanted card, opposite the “Dangerous” column, there is a “Yes” mark. Previously, Averyanov's name appeared in investigations into explosions at military warehouses of the Imex company in Vrbetica in 2014 — ammunition from the company of Bulgarian businessman Emilian Gebrev, who allegedly supplied weapons to Ukraine in connection with the war in Donbass, was stored there.
Andrey Averyanov wanted card/Screenshot from the Czech police website
In April 2024, Czech police announced that they had closed the investigation into the bombings due to the fact that “it is currently impossible to obtain additional information on it.” At the same time, law enforcement agencies emphasized that the GRU military unit, led by Averianov, was behind the explosions.The security forces consider Anatoly Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin, who served in that unit, to be the direct perpetrators of the explosions. According to investigators, shortly before the explosions they entered ammunition depots in Vrbetica using fake passports issued in different names. The Czech police were unable to bring charges against the GRU agents, since both are in Russia, which “does not extradite them and refuses to cooperate.”
As The Insider found out, the work of GRU agents involved in sabotage in Europe was coordinated by a family of emigrants from Russia with Czech citizenship — Nikolai and Elena Shaposhnikov. According to the publication, since the 2000s, Shaposhnikov has collaborated with Petr Bernatik, the general director of the Imex company, at whose warehouse explosions occurred in 2014. Averyanov himself, as The Insider writes, met with the Shaposhnikovs in Lisbon.
Explosions at warehouses in Vrbetica occurred in October and December 2014, killing two people.