Inside the world of Christo Grozev: Hunted by Russia but undeterred

A decade ago, Christo Grozev's career was focused on managing numerous media companies in various European countries. With substantial wealth, contacts, and influence, in 2015, he joined the investigative group Bellingcat, with whom he investigated, among other things, the activities of Russian services in the investigation into the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.

In the subsequent years, the Bulgarian journalist tracked the activities of the Federal Security Service, revealing over 300 Russian agents involved in, among other things, the poisonings of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, Alexei Navalny, and Vladimir Kara-Murza. As he states on camera in James Jones's film "Antidote," he has a list of 5,000 of Putin's spies. However, he never suspected that he would one day be investigating a planned assassination attempt on his own life.

On November 26 in the United Kingdom, a trial begins for five Bulgarian spies collaborating with Jan Marsalek, recruited by Russia, who tracked Grozev, his family, and those around him for two years. They were tasked with eliminating him. As the director of the documentary "Antidote" revealed during a meeting with festival viewers at Watch Docs in Warsaw, one of the agents, two days before her arrest, reviewed a beauty salon near his London home online. Bellingcat journalists found it easy to track her because she left Google reviews for every hotel she stayed in.

Watching the documentary, which at times resembles a good spy thriller (e.g., during the organization of an informant's escape from the country, a Russian chemist working on substances and biological weapons banned by all conventions), one might wonder how Grozev and his colleagues are the ones exposing the regime's crimes instead of the special services. It turns out that the proficiency of journalists in using openly available information online and obtaining data from the dark web sometimes exceeds that of intelligence agents. Grozev doesn't hide the fact that MI6 employees respect him and are keen to exchange information with him.

When someone dedicates themselves to uncovering hidden crimes, it naturally raises questions about the personal sacrifices they make. Grozev's family is divided—his father and son are very supportive, while his wife questions the validity of risking his life for the truth.

At the end of 2022, the investigator appeared on a list of foreign agents hostile to Russia. While in the United States, Grozev was warned by services not to return to Europe. Viewers might remember the scene where the journalist calls his father to inform him he turned back from the airport because he was told that they would certainly want to kill him upon landing. "What now?" the father asks, and the son responds without hesitation: "I will keep chasing them."

Just a few days later, Grozev's father stopped answering the phone. The journalist couldn't visit him or send family to the elderly man's home. After notifying the authorities, it was found that the senior's body was discovered in a condition suggesting third-party involvement. Immediately after the autopsy, the body was cremated without the family's consent, and toxicological tests yielded inconclusive results. His son had no choice but to conduct another personal investigation to find out how his father died and if he fell victim to his professional activities.

Apart from the portrait of the outstanding journalist, who also appeared in the Oscar-winning documentary "Navalny," the director James Jones also focuses his camera on Vladimir Kara-Murza and his relatives. The wife of the Russian journalist and opposition leader says in the film that it was thanks to Bellingcat that they confirmed how Vladimir was poisoned twice. Even though his family obtained asylum in the United States, Kara-Murza returned to his homeland in April 2022, where he was charged with treason and sentenced to 25 years in a high-security penal colony.

Publicizing his case had the desired effect—on August 1 of this year, as part of a prisoner and spy exchange between the US and Russia, 24 people, including Kara-Murza, were released. "Antidote" ends with a scene added after filming finished—the wife and children of the Russian opposition leader talk to him by phone from the Oval Office next to President Joe Biden.

However, that's not the end—life has added another chapter to James Jones's film. The director announced in Warsaw that he will add new material to "Antidote" in January. Viewers will learn details about the mysterious circumstances of Christo Grozev's father's death.