MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/. The New York Times report on an alleged elite unit inside the Russian intelligence system aimed at "destabilizing Europe" has nothing to do with reality and could be a plot of a science fiction film, a member of the State Duma’s Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption Andrei Lugovoi has said.
"It’s hard to invent a more thrilling scenario for a science fiction movie," the MP stated. "This is absurd and there is no common sense in it," said Lugovoi, who was alleged to have been behind the 2006 murder of former FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko.
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According to the NYT report, a group, known as Unit 29155, "has operated for at least a decade" and is allegedly part of the Main Directorate of the Russian General Staff, widely known as GRU. It was only recently discovered by Western officials, the paper says. The publication claims that officers from this unit travel to European countries and are linked to the poisoning attack on former GRU officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the United Kingdom, Bulgarian arms dealer Emilian Gebrev as well as an attempted coup d’etat in Montenegro and attempts to destabilize Moldova. "Western security officials have now concluded that these operations, and potentially many others, are part of a coordinated and ongoing campaign to destabilize Europe," the report reads.