Inside "Antidote": Tracking Putin's spies and personal cost

A decade ago, Christo Grozev's career focused on managing numerous media companies across various European countries. With substantial wealth, contacts, and influence, he joined the investigative group Bellingcat in 2015, where he participated in investigations, including examining the activities of Russian services in the inquiry into the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.

In subsequent years, the Bulgarian journalist tracked the activities of the Federal Security Service, exposing over 300 Russian agents involved in incidents such as the poisonings of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, Alexei Navalny, and Vladimir Kara-Murza. In James Jones's film "Antidote," he mentions having a list of 5,000 of Putin's spies. However, he never anticipated investigating a planned assassination attempt on his own life.

On 26 November in the United Kingdom, a trial begins for five Bulgarian spies collaborating with Jan Marsalek, recruited by Russia, who tracked Grozev, his family, and associates for two years. They were tasked with eliminating him. As the director of the documentary "Antidote" disclosed during a meeting with festival attendees at Watch Docs in Warsaw, one of the agents, two days before her arrest, was reviewing a beauty salon online near Grozev's home in London. Bellingcat journalists found it easy to track her because she left Google reviews for every hotel she stayed at.

Watching the documentary, which at times resembles an intriguing spy thriller (for example, the organisation of an informant's escape from the country, a Russian chemist working on substances and biological weapons banned by all conventions), one might wonder why it is Grozev and his colleagues who are exposing the regime's crimes instead of the special services. It turns out that the journalists' proficiency in using openly available information online and obtaining data from the dark web sometimes surpasses that of intelligence agents. Grozev doesn't shy away from admitting that MI6 employees respect him and are keen to exchange information with him.

When someone dedicates themselves to uncovering hidden crimes, it naturally raises questions about the personal sacrifices they make. Grozev's family is divided; his father and son are very supportive, while his wife questions the validity of risking his life for the truth.

At the end of 2022, Grozev's name appeared on a list of foreign agents hostile to Russia. While in the United States, Grozev was advised by the authorities not to return to Europe. Viewers might recall the scene where the journalist calls his father to inform him that he turned back from the airport because he had been warned that they would likely attempt to kill him upon landing. "What now?" his father asks, and the son hesitantly replies: "I will keep chasing them."

Just a few days later, Grozev's father stopped answering the phone. The journalist couldn't visit or send family to the elderly man's home. After notifying the authorities, it was discovered that the senior's body was found in a condition suggesting third-party involvement. Immediately after the autopsy, the body was cremated without the family's consent, and toxicological tests yielded inconclusive results. His son had no choice but to conduct another personal investigation to find out how his father died and whether he was a victim of his professional activities.

Apart from the portrait of the outstanding journalist, who appeared in the Oscar-winning documentary "Navalny," director James Jones also focuses on Vladimir Kara-Murza and his relatives. The wife of the Russian journalist and opposition leader reveals in the film that it was thanks to Bellingcat that they confirmed how Vladimir was poisoned twice. Even though his family obtained asylum in the United States, Kara-Murza returned to his homeland in April 2022, where he was charged with treason and sentenced to 25 years in a high-security penal colony.

Publicising his case had the desired effect. On 1 August this year, 24 people, including Kara-Murza, were released as part of a prisoner and spy exchange between the US and Russia. "Antidote" concludes with a scene added after filming finished—the wife and children of the Russian opposition leader speak to him by phone from the Oval Office, next to President Joe Biden.

However, that's not the end. Life has added another chapter to James Jones's film. The director announced in Warsaw that he will add new material to "Antidote" in January. Viewers will learn details about the mysterious circumstances of Christo Grozev's father's death.