Son of Russian intelligence general heads Council of Europe program

The son of a Russian Foreign intelligence service (SVR) general heads the Council of Europe’s Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism. This was reported by the Bild newspaper, citing public records.

Although Russia withdrew from the Council of Europe on its initiative last year, some 90 of the 120 Russians working on the Council’s staff still retain their positions. This opportunity is open to second-citizen staff.

It is known that the father of the euro functionalist, 68-year-old Vladimir Nebyvaev, continues to serve in the SVR (Russian Foreign Intelligence Service) with the rank of general. Following the 2018 poisoning in Salisbury, England, of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Nebyvaev Sr. was expelled from Ukraine as part of a group of 13 diplomats “in solidarity with British partners and transatlantic allies”.

In 2017, Ukrainian media reported on the detention in Kyiv of a diplomatic car with a drunk driver and passengers, including the then SVR official in Ukraine, Vladimir Nebyvaev.

The journalists published a bill from which it follows that the general and his colleagues ordered three glasses of wine and six shots of vodka in a restaurant on that day in addition to a meal.

Denying drinking alcohol, Nebyvaev senior said on camera: “Today is Palm Sunday, a strictly religious holiday. You can’t drink, you can’t eat meat.” According to BILD, father and son Nebyvaev are still registered in the same Moscow flat.

Public reaction

“The European Union cannot allow Russia to control the EU’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing processes. The son of a general of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service should be immediately dismissed as executive director of the Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering body Moneyval”

Tomasz Zdechowski, a member of the European Parliament and a member of the special committee on foreign interference, including disinformation.