Thread by @michaeldweiss

NEW: @InsiderEng and its partners @lemondefr and @derspiegel have identified the French chef arrested on suspicion of working for Russian intelligence to disrupt the Paris Olympics. Meet Kirill Griaznov, a Cordon Bleu-trained chef, reality TV star and FSB officer. We have his emails. Oh, and he's been to New York too! theins.press/en/politics/27…

The Perm-born Griaznov has resided in France for 14 years. He only decided to become a chef suddenly in 2010 after years working as a lawyer for financial services companies. While in Luxembourg, he met Lord Robert Skidelsky, a British peer. He was very excited about this and wanted to meet Skidelsky again in Moscow. Skidelsky seemed keen.

(Skidelsky was suspended from the House of Lords last year for not properly disclosing his ties to a think tank bankrolled by sanctioned Russian oligarchs. He's very critical of the UK's security assistance to Ukraine and was against Swedish and Finnish NATO membership.) thetimes.com/world/russia-u…

Griaznov's social media is awash with food porn, selfies, and reels where he goes Dr. Strange/Salt Bae on ramen. He also appeared on "Choose Me," Russia's answer to "The Bachelor," where he was described as a successful businessman and restaurateur.

Alas, all was not well here. According to his ex-girlfriends, he's got a drinking problem and the booze, so says one of them, would be his downfall. How right she was.

Griaznov was unmasked because he got tanked while trying to return to Paris from Russia via Turkey. The Turks didn't let him on the plane in Istanbul. So what did he do? He called a friend in Bulgaria to pick him up at the Turkish-Bulgarian border. The friend obliged.

Griaznov cooled his heels in St. Vlas, dined with the friend, got hammered again, and boasted of his special operation to disrupt the Olympic opening ceremonies in Paris on April 26. The friend was incredulous. So did what any deep-cover chekist would do: he whipped out his FSB ID.

Then, en route to Varna from St. Vlas, he took a call from his FSB boss and confirmed everything was on track for Paris and he'd even recruited “one more Moldovan from Chisinau." (Moldovans working for Russia were previously caught scrawling Stars of David all over Paris to ramp up fears of anti-Semitism.)

We have other evidence of his ties to the Russian special services. His brother, Dmitri, is chief of staff at the secretariat of the Belarus-Russia Union Assembly (a clearinghouse for FSB types). Dmitri he lives at the same address as Denis Sergeev, the Unit 29155 operational commander for the Skripal poisoning.

Griaznov also has a sensitive military dossier in his inbox belonging to a GRU airborne Spetsnaz colonel -- you know, the sort of thing a lawyer-cook would have hanging around in their attachments.

The FSB spy came to NYC in 2013 and appeared to stay at the Hudson Hotel in Columbus Circle. He ate at Marea, went to Carnegie Hall, took in a Knicks Game. He's also traveled around the world: Switzerland, Czechia and Bulgaria, along with shorter ones in the United Kingdom, China and India.

Here he is in Prague enjoying himself.

Contacted by Le Monde, Victor, an old friend of Griaznov can't believe it. “I know his whole family and vice-versa," Victor said. "I went to his house in Moscow and Perm. He came to France because he hates Putin and does not want to go to the front, lol."

Griaznov's decision to get into the culinary arts reminded us of another late-in-life chef we profiled and whom you may have seen in March on @60Minutes. Vitalii Kovalev, once a military engineer with clearance, was arrested after a high-speed car chase in Key West. After two years in a U.S. prison, he went back to Russia, got mobilized and killed somehow in Ukraine: theins.ru/en/politics/27…

@60Minutes .@lemondefr's story: lemonde.fr/societe/articl…

@60Minutes @lemondefr .@derspiegel's story: spiegel.de/ausland/zugrif…

And @the_ins_ru's story (in Russian): theins.ru/politika/273341

Here's a clip of Griaznov on the reality dating show.

Lonely heart in Moscow seeks Moldovans from Chisinau for exciting trip to Paris. Tell you more later.