Christo Grozev

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Christo Grozev
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Born1969
Plovdiv
NationalityBulgarian
CitizenshipBulgaria
Alma materUniversity in Bulgaria
Occupation
  • Media expert
  • Media investor
  • Investigative journalist
Known forInvestigative journalism

Christo Grozev (born 1969), is a Bulgarian investigative journalist, media expert and media investor, currently lead Russia investigator with Bellingcat, focusing on security threats, extraterritorial clandestine operations, and the weaponization of information[1]. His investigations into the identity of the suspects in the 2018 Novichok agent poisonings in the UK earned him and his team the European Press Prize for Investigative Journalism[2][3]. Christo Grozev is known for using open-source, social media, other available data for investigations. Based in Vienna, Austria, he authored many of the landmark investigations identifying, among others, two senior Russian officers linked to the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 [4][5] in 2014, GRU officers involved with the 2016 Montenegrin coup plot [6][7], the three Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal[8] suspects in 2018[9] and Poisoning of Alexei Navalny in 2020[10].

Life and work

Grozev was born in Plovdiv in May 1969. He attended English Language High School-Plovdiv (1984-1988)[11]. In 1995 Grozev graduated American University in Bulgaria, specialization - Mass Communication/Media Studies[11]. Grozev received Executive MBA, LME (Master of Law and Economics), LLM (Master of Law) degree in IMADEC University in 2012, specialization - Finance, Law and Economics; International Law[11]. When Grozev was 17 years old, he started as a journalist for a newspaper and later on he worked as a radio reporter during the socialist time in Bulgaria. "Conveying information to the people always was a passion to me" - said Grozev in 2014[12]. Since 1988 he has been a radio reporter in Plovdiv. In 1991 he became one of the founders and CEO of Bulgaria's first commercial radio station – Aura - affiliated with the American University in Bulgaria[13][11]. In 1994 he was hired by the American company Metromedia to work with its Russian assets. Launched Radio Nika in Sochi, Channel Melodia and Eldoradio in St. Petersburg and dozens of radio stations in the Baltic countries, Finland, Bulgaria, and Hungary. Was appointed Regional Director and Vice President of Radio in 1997[13][11]. As of 2000 became CEO of the Radio Division of Metromedia, a U.S. publicly traded company. In this capacity, supervised the operations and growth of over 30 radio stations in 11 countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Northern Europe, Russia, and the CIS[13][11]. When Metromedia decided to quit the radio business in 2003, Christo Grozev bought Russian radio (RBMH Broadcast Media Holdings) assets from it and later, in 2006, sold them to the French company Lagardère Group[11][13]. In addition, he managed as a director the Irish company Communicorp, which acquired its other broadcasting assets from Metromedia (2005-2007). Supervised the integration of Metromedia's European radio group into Communicorp, and was in charge of the company's further expansion in existing and new markets, such as Ukraine and Latvia[11][13]. After 2006, Grozev acted as an investor in various media assets, mainly in the Netherlands and Bulgaria. So, in 2006, his company RadioCorp B.V. received a broadcasting license in the Netherlands to create a radio station with a national music format. Radiocorp operates two national radio stations: 100% NL - a Dutch music radio station, and Radio 10 (Netherlands) - an 80s/90s music station with a combined audience of nearly 3 m people. Radiocorp also operates a national music TV station (100% NL TV) and has a stake in a co-branded glossy magazine[11][13]. Grozev's other media assets today are a news television channel and several newspapers in Bulgaria. Starting 2007 Grozev is a co-founder and partner at Altelys Investments, the platform, focusing primarily on media and telecoms investments in Eastern and Central Europe. Altelys currently owns/operates a national radio station in Ukraine and owns stake in print media in Bulgaria. Altelys also owns a real estate services business based in Austria[11][13]. Since 2016 Grozev is a Supervisory Board Member at Talpa Radio Holding. Radio NewCo operates four of the leading commercial national radio stations in the Netherlands: Radio 538, Sky Radio, Radio 10 (Netherlands) and Radio Veronica (Talpa Radio). The group is also a majority shareholder in One Media Sales, the Netherlands' leading radio sales house[11][13]. Grozev is a business partner of media manager Karl von Habsburg, the current head of the House of Habsburg. In 2019, Grozev and his team won the 2019 European Press Prize[2] Investigative Reporting Award with ‘Unmasking the Salisbury Poisoning Suspects: A Four-Part Investigation‘[3] (Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal). Bellingcat and The Insider were able to confirm Petrov and Boshirov's involvement with the GRU[3][2]. For some investigations, the pseudonym Moritz Rakuszizky was used[14]. In December 2020, Grozev explained that they never set themselves the goal of dealing specifically with Russia, but are investigating state crimes, in particular, they were engaged in the extreme right in Ukraine, made reports against NATO, which was illegally selling weapons to Saudi Arabia, analyzed Turkish and Greek crimes during the migrant crisis[15]. Speaks fluent Bulgarian, English, Russian, Estonian and Dutch.

References

  1. ↑ "Christo Grozev, Author at bellingcat". bellingcat. Retrieved 2021-01-08.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Christo Grozev". European Press Prize. Retrieved 2021-01-08.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Unmasking the Salisbury Poisoning Suspects: A Four-Part Investigation". European Press Prize. Retrieved 2021-01-08.
  4. ↑ "The MH17 Trial Part 1: New Material From The Four Defendants". bellingcat. 2020-04-20. Retrieved 2021-01-08.
  5. ↑ "The MH17 Trial Part 2: The Bezler Tapes, a Case of Red Herrings?". bellingcat. 2020-10-17. Retrieved 2021-01-08.
  6. ↑ "The Kremlin's Balkan Gambit: Part I". bellingcat. 2017-03-04. Retrieved 2021-01-08.
  7. ↑ "Balkan Gambit: Part 2. The Montenegro Zugzwang". bellingcat. 2017-03-25. Retrieved 2021-01-08.
  8. ↑ "Full report: Skripal Poisoning Suspect Dr. Alexander Mishkin, Hero of Russia". bellingcat. 2018-10-09. Retrieved 2021-01-08.
  9. ↑ "Christo Grozev". European Press Prize. Retrieved 2021-01-08.
  10. ↑ ""If it Hadn't Been for the Prompt Work of the Medics": FSB Officer Inadvertently Confesses Murder Plot to Navalny". bellingcat. 2020-12-21. Retrieved 2021-01-08.
  11. ↑ 11.00 11.01 11.02 11.03 11.04 11.05 11.06 11.07 11.08 11.09 11.10 Grozev, Christo. "Linkedin profile".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. ↑ "LAWSUITS: A BUSINESS MODEL?" (PDF). The Executive.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 13.7 "Христо Грозев". theoryandpractice.ru. Retrieved 2021-01-08.
  14. ↑ "Skripal suspect 'was made Hero of Russia' by President Putin". BBC News. 2018-09-27. Retrieved 2021-01-08.
  15. ↑ "«Это мое последнее расследование». Христо Грозев об отравлении Навального, ФСБ и опасениях за жизнь - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2021-01-08.

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