The fourteen-story house of illegal immigrants is located next to other officer dormitories near the building of the Military Diplomatic Academy of the GRU (VDA). Since its construction in 1975, it has been home to thousands of families of GRU officers who, first on the instructions of the CPSU, and then the leadership of "democratic" Russia, spied around the world. Most of the residents studied at the 1st faculty of the ACA, where they train illegal immigrants and intelligence officers under diplomatic cover (“ jackets ”, “undercovers” in intelligence slang), or at the 2nd faculty (undercover-operational intelligence) for further service abroad in the military attaches.
After the flight to the West in 1991, an employee of the Vienna residency of the GRU, Alexander Krapiva, who “leaked” the methods of conspiracy of military intelligence to the Americans, in the high-rise building they began to officially register mainly the wives of ACA students (the majority were already married when they entered the ACA). Since then, this house has been jokingly nicknamed the "Women's House". For the sake of appearance, the wives were assigned to the housing and communal office of the VDA, while the future intelligence officers themselves lived with their families during their studies, but were registered in officer dormitories on the streets of Marshal Biryuzov, Svoboda, Khoroshevskoye Highway, in Volokolamsky passage and the village of Zagoryansky (Shchelkovsky district of the Moscow region) .
"Diplomats"
For example, a children's teacher Natalya Tsarikova was registered in the hostel, who wrote a manual for parents "Growing Cultural". Her husband Igor Tsarikov graduated from the Novosibirsk Higher Military-Political Combined Arms School (NVVPOU) in 1993. Unlike other political officers who fell under mass layoffs in the 90s, Tsarikov was fluent in English and German, and he was invited to the GRU. After studying at the 1st faculty of the ACA, the "jacket" was seconded to the 3rd European Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, which oversees Austria, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Poland, Slovakia, Germany, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. And five years ago, the post of official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry on refugees from Syria was created specifically for Tsarikov. "Diplomat" Tsarikov speaks a lot on the situation in the refugee camps and accuses the US and its allies of double standards.
Speaking of double standards, his daughter Veronika studied at the Humboldt University in Berlin and enjoys traveling around NATO countries.
The Zhemchuzhnikov family is listed as the neighbors of the Tsarikovs in the Women's House. The head of the family Sergey Zhemchuzhnikov was born in Kharkov, previously was the representative of the GRU in Tajikistan, a now serves under the guise of the 1st Secretary in the Section of Interests of the Russian Federation at the Swiss Embassy in Georgia. As is known, after the events in South Ossetia in August 2008, Georgia severed diplomatic relations with Russia, and Switzerland took over the representation of Moscow's interests. The Interest Section operates in the building of the Russian Consulate in Tbilisi and has 13 members. In 2012, a tragedy happened in the Zhemchuzhnikov family: during a school relay race, their 15-year-old son Denis died of cardiac arrest. Judging by the television report of Vesti-Moskva, the teenager could still be saved, but the ambulance arrived with broken equipment.
Before Lieutenant Colonel Zhemchuzhnikov, the post of 1st Secretary in Tbilisi was held by another graduate of the Military Aviation Administration – Colonel Evgeny Shipilov , who had previously served in the 175th communications control brigade in the Rostov Region (military unit 01957), and then spying under the roof of a diplomat in Lithuania. Coincidentally, Shipilov's name disappeared from the section's website immediately after Swiss intelligence chief Jean-Philippe Gaudin's visit to Moscow last year, during which he met with Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev. According to official information , between Patrushev and Godin "an exchange of views took place on the issues of countering the coronavirus infection and issues of strategic stability and bilateral cooperation in the field of security." Meanwhile, a source in the Georgian parliament told The Insider that the main purpose of Gaudin’s visit “was not the pandemic, but the situation with Shipilov, who was identified by our counterintelligence. The guy completely lost the coast and behaved like at home. As you can see, Patrushev and Godin came to a compromise: Shipilov, who had become "embarrassed", was sent back to Moscow, and Lieutenant Colonel Zhemchuzhnikov was sent in his place.
Six women from the Women's House had their husbands seconded to the Ministry of Economic Development. Representative offices of the Ministry of Economic Development are located in 58 foreign countries – and in almost every one of them there are "roofers" from the GRU who are engaged in "establishing trade relations." Of the six seconded, there is information about only two.
The first is Sergey Sikachev . He graduated from the A. S. Popov Naval Institute of Radio Electronics in St. Petersburg, and then worked as an adviser at the Consulate of the Russian Federation in San Francisco. In 2017, US authorities closed the consulate, calling it a spy nest.
The second is Sergey Bublikov . Apparently, he was not the last person in the Balkan residency of the GRU. In 2006, he worked in Bulgaria under the guise of a trade representative of the Russian Federation. Shortly before the GRU-organized coup attempt in Montenegro in 2016, Bublikov was transferred to this country, and he served as an adviser to the Russian ambassador.
There is a video on YouTube in which, three months before the arrests of the conspirators, he met with the leader of the local Night Wolves, Vukoman Bulatovich, and pro-Kremlin Cossacks. When the coup d'état failed, Bublikov was again returned to Bulgaria to the trade mission. However, in March 2022, the Bulgarian authorities accused him of espionage and expelled him from the country.
In the process of studying at the ACA, some did not pull the upcoming career of an illegal immigrant – such were transferred to the faculty of military attaches, but left in a hostel. Indeed, many residents of the hostel on the street. People's Militia – wives of military attachés. This formally diplomatic post is always de facto occupied by GRU officers. So, a graduate of the Leningrad Combined Arms Military School, Nikolai Tsybulya , served in the Marine Corps in Sevastopol, where he was spotted by a recruiter from the GRU. After studying at the 2nd faculty of the ACA, Tsibulya was sent as a military attache to South Africa, then to Nigeria. Now a former marine, he is an attaché in Ethiopia. Another attaché, Pavel Anisov , serves at the Russian Embassy in Mongolia.
Colonel Igor Shcherbakov previously dealt with military issues in Switzerland, and now his name is listed on the website of the Russian embassy in Armenia. It was not possible to find out where Sergei Makhovnev is now serving, but he was previously a military representative in the United States and Mexico. But the assistant air force attache at the Russian Embassy in the Czech Republic, Viktor Budyak , was added to the list of persona non grata in 2021 and expelled from the country.
Among the residents of the Women's Home there are two dozen underage children whose fathers studied espionage at the ACA. Moreover, the names of the parents among the residents of the house are absent. One of them is Sofia Solomasova, born in 2010. Her father, Sergei Solomasov , for the purpose of conspiracy, was registered in an officer's hostel in the north of Moscow. Until 2017, he served as a military attache in France, and now he has settled in Slovakia.
In March of this year, Slovak counterintelligence posted online video footage showing Solomasov recruiting freelance journalist Hlavné správy Bogusz Barbara and offering him 1,000 euros to lift: “We need to drink together, talk. Have frank conversations. I need political information about relations between countries, within NATO, the European Union. Can you do that?" — interested in Solomasov.
"Managers of state companies" and "professors"
Immediately, several husbands of the hostel residents were assigned to large state corporations. For example, Dmitry Kandyba and Sergey Shikhovets are registered in Rosatom. Kandyba works as an adviser, and Shikhovets works for the uranium mining company Atomredmetzoloto, which is part of this state corporation. Before becoming an “atomic engineer”, Shikhovets graduated from the Ryazan Higher Command School, fought in Chechnya, and after studying at the “Oriental Faculty” of the ACA, he was sent as a “cover” to China and Japan.
After the academy, Mikhail Koreshkov taught at the GRU training center in the village of Zagoryansky (military unit 36360), and then he was sent to the Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK). The company is one of the top three global pipe manufacturers and has branches in Romania, the Czech Republic, China, the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. In which of the branches Koreshkov spied, one can only guess.
And a dormitory resident with a rare name, Sever Ivanov , graduated from the Department of Foreign Information of the Military University of the Ministry of Defense (VUMO), from where many graduates go straight to the GRU, SVR and FSB. And now he works for the Zarubezhneft-dobycha company.
Another seconded to state corporations, Vladimir Marchenko , also first graduated from VUMO, and then he was invited to the GRU. In 1994, under the guise of a promising Russian businessman, he was sent to the Dutch Maastricht, where he studied under the MBA program of the International Institute of Management. And further on, Officer Marchenko's track record includes: General Director of Avrora Capital LLC, Advisor to the Chairman of the Board of JSCB Gazprombank, Member of the Board of Directors of Avrora Oil LLC, President of Pan African Metals Corporation (Switzerland), Vice President of AK ALROSA (supervised the company's activities in Africa), and since January 2018 – Deputy General Director of AK ALROSA.
The African countries are supervised by the 4th Directorate of the GRU, and the Quartet employees played an important role in organizing the Russia-Africa summits. Moreover, according to The Insider's source in military intelligence, some officials began to cooperate with the GRU back in the days of the Soviet Union.
Other "jackets" from the hostel settled in educational institutions where there are direct contacts with foreign universities.
For example, students of the Moscow State Regional University (MGOU) do not even realize that Valery Makarchenko , adviser to the rector's office for international affairs, worked for a long time in the Munich residency of the GRU. After returning to Moscow, he established the Center for German Language and Culture, but the business had to be curtailed due to the pandemic. Meanwhile, Makarchenko did not lose ties with Bavaria and, until the closure of borders with the EU, constantly organized visits to Moscow by German officials, professors and students.
And others…
Despite the conspiracy, several residents from the Women's House were identified by the SBU and they were included in various black lists or the Peacemaker base. For example, the former GRU representative in Transnistria Arkady Verkhoglyadov , adviser to the Russian ambassador to Iran Mikhail Kushinsky , combat helicopter specialist Evgeny Arshaninov and Gennady Kutyin from the GRU intelligence center on the street. Sailor silence (military unit 46188). Among the uncovered residents, a woman is also listed – junior sergeant Elena Bushina from military unit 58147-3.
The Insider was able to find out the biographies of two more ACA ladies' home residents. Sergey Krasnobryzhiy works as a seller of light helicopters and runs between Ukraine and Canada. And Nikolai Chernov is considered in the GRU a great specialist in Southeast Asia.
By the way, his son, Timothy, is engaged in parallel imports from China and Turkey:
“For a long time you did your business with Europe and the USA, but due to recent events, importing goods, transferring currencies, concluding contracts with these countries has become either impossible or extremely problematic. Our company offers you assistance in solving this issue by importing through Turkey. The scheme is simple. Turkish legal a person buys your goods – we organize logistics – re-export of goods – sending to Russia, ” the son of a gereushnik advertises his opportunities.
As The Insider found out, there are irreparable losses among the former residents of the Women's Home. One of them is a graduate of the 3rd faculty of the ACA (operational-tactical intelligence) Alexander Pukhkan. He was born in Riga in the family of a soldier of the Soviet army and studied at the Minsk Suvorov School. Then there was a move to Russia – service in the Separate Reconnaissance Company of the Airborne Forces in Ivanovo (military unit 65391) and the 45th Airborne Special Forces Regiment in Kubinka (military unit 28337). According to some reports, Pukhkan commanded a GRU sabotage group in Syria, Crimea and Donbass, and in 2015 he died unexpectedly from a stroke.
Curiously, Pukhkan has a younger brother Dmitry, who went the other way. After graduating from the Kaluga and Moscow theological schools, he was sent to Kyiv at the disposal of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), where he made a successful spiritual career and rose to the rank of archimandrite. A year ago, by decision of the Holy Synod of the UOC, Archimandrite Anthony (Pukhkan) was elected Bishop of Korsun-Shevchenkovsky of the Cherkasy diocese. It should be noted that after the Russian aggression against Ukraine, hard times have come for the UOC, which is under the patronage of the Moscow Patriarchate: for the majority of parishioners, the ambivalent position of the leadership of the UOC caused at least bewilderment, criminal cases were opened against several dozen priests for collaborationism, and the SBU carried out searches in some churches and monasteries. The leadership of the UOC urgently announced the severance of most ties with the Moscow Patriarchate and issued a statement: “The Church calls on its flock to help the Motherland to defend peace in all its territories through prayer and good deeds, strongly condemning the aggression of the Russian army against the Ukrainian people.”