As the founder of the investigative medium “Bellingcat”, the journalist Christo Grozev uncovered and made public a large number of scandals in Russia.
Because journalists there who don’t just retell propaganda are extremely endangered, Grozev now lives in exile in the United States.
A few months ago he fled there with his family from Vienna because the Austrian authorities could no longer guarantee his safety.
There, in the USA, the “Financial Times” met him for an interview in which the Bulgarian-born spoke about the coup attempt by Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Grozev himself was one of the few who had predicted the coup months in advance. “I said in January last year that Prigozhin would turn against Putin within six months,” he told FT.
Everyone knows what they do with ‘traitors’ in Russia.
Christo Grozevinvestigative journalist
Even during the uprising, Putin had called the putschists “traitors” on state television. A good 200 kilometers from the capital Moscow, Wagner boss Prigozhin suddenly called off the coup, apparently after the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko had negotiated a deal with him.
Since then there have been repeated reports about the possible whereabouts of the mercenary leader. Photos also appear regularly. His fighters are said to be currently in Belarus. But how will things continue between the exposed Kremlin boss and his former henchman Prigozhin?
“Everyone knows what they do to ‘traitors’ in Russia, and Putin didn’t do that. He wants him dead. He can’t do that now,” says Grozev. In six months, however, Prigozhin will either be dead, “or there will be a second coup,” he says.
When asked by the Financial Times reporter if he predicted one or the other would happen, Grozev replied, “Yes, believe me.” (tsp)
