Thread by @kromark

🧵/ link in the last post. Andrey Averyanov, ex-head of GRU sabotage unit 29155, visited Israel twice before the war in Ukraine, including Feb 10, 2022, when Israeli PM Naftali Bennett urged the EU not to renew the Iran nuclear deal. Averyanov then began frequent trips to Iran.

A leaked Russian border database shows Averyanov, linked to Skripal's poisoning, Vrbetice explosions, and Khangoshvili's assassination, visited Israel for just one day on Feb 8 and 10, 2022, ruling out 'tourism' was a purpose.

Right after, Averyanov began frequent trips to Iran. The first was on June 1st, 2022, 25 days before Josep Borrell’s visit to Tehran, where he tried to revive the Iran nuclear deal. reuters.com/world/eus-borr…

The deal was never revived. Instead, Iran became one of the largest suppliers of armor for Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine.

Andrey Averyanov's next visit to Iran was on Oct 1, 2022, followed by another on Oct 6. Two weeks later, The Washington Post reported Iran planned to send missiles, not just drones, to Russia. washingtonpost.com/national-secur…

In Dec 2022, WH National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Russia was offering Iran 'an unprecedented level of military and technical support,' turning their relationship into a full-fledged defense partnership.’ apnews.com/article/putin-…

Worth noticing that it was 2022 when Averyanov was promoted to become deputy head of the GRU. static.rusi.org/SR-Russian-Unc…

In this new role, Averyanov continued to travel to Iran in 2023. The next trip was on February 26th. On March 11th, the Iranians claimed that the deal to buy Russian Su-35 jet fighters was being finalized. smarturl.click/RVlW

Averyanov's next trip to Iran occurred on July 12 and 16, 2022. In the same month, he publicly appeared at the Russia-Africa forum in Moscow.

https://x.com/christogrozev/status/1685978302236811264

Since then, he’s mostly been known for traveling around Africa, helping the Russian Ministry of Defense take over Prigozhin’s business there, and expanding Russia's presence in the region.

https://x.com/kromark/status/1732756347936969196

Interestingly, none of his trips to Africa can be seen in the leaked database. After July 2022, only one trip by Averyanov appears there – to Uzbekistan (he travelled to Uzbekistan often).

It’s hard to say how significant his role was in establishing the Russia-Iran military partnership, but these trips convince me that he did have a role.

And trips to Israel are really intriguing. Why would a high-ranking, infamous GRU general-major travel there? Not really sure it was related to the Iran deal, though I personally don’t think the deal had much chance of revival, with or without any efforts.

Read the full story here (please translate with Google or ChatGPT for your language): svoboda.org/a/telj-aviv-mo…

(Sorry for the typo in this post, 2023 of course)

(Sorry for the typo, 2023 of course in this post)

https://x.com/kromark/status/1831678896317538320

And here should be 2023 too, I really apologize!

https://x.com/kromark/status/1831678901371752943

(After July 2023, sorry for the typo again!)