The Telegraph identifies Russian biker Oleg Levushkin as suspected organizer of Leipzig airport sabotage. It links the operation to a GRU unit whose officers are accused in the Skripal poisoning.

The British newspaper The Telegraph has identified the suspected organizer of a sabotage attack at Leipzig Airport. German media had previously reported on the suspect, citing German law enforcement authorities, without naming him.The suspect is Russian national Oleg Levushkin, according to The Telegraph. He enjoys motorcycle trips, including through Europe. Agentstvo found photos of these trips on his social media accounts. Leaked data examined by Agentstvo indicates that he lived in Riga until at least 2018, moved to Russia’s Pskov region in 2019, and later moved to Sevastopol. The SPARK business database lists him as a co-owner of two companies in Pskov and another in Sevastopol.Media reports say Levushkin has known Denis Smolyaninov for many years. Smolyaninov is a colonel in Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU, and heads a department in its Special Activities Service. His department specializes in sabotage operations abroad. According to Süddeutsche Zeitung, cited by The Telegraph, the two met in 2007, when Smolyaninov mediated a financial dispute involving Levushkin’s business.The Telegraph also identified the man who carried out the sabotage attack at Leipzig Airport as Andrei Karshakov. German media had previously reported only that he was a Belarusian citizen.The Telegraph reported that the Leipzig sabotage attack, which Levushkin is suspected of organizing, is linked to military unit 29155. The unit is known for two former members, GRU officers Anatoly Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin, who are accused of poisoning Sergei and Yulia Skripal and carrying out sabotage in the Czech Republic. They used the names Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov, respectively. The unit has been part of the Special Activities Service since 2023.At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.