“The journalist detained with Rubtsov is Magdalena Chodownik” – wrote Cezary Gmyz, journalist of “Do Rzeczy” on the X website.
The Front Story website revealed that during the detention of GRU agent Pavel Rubtsov in February 2022 in Przemyśl, a journalist, his partner, was detained along with him. The prosecutor’s office confirms that the woman has been charged with aiding and abetting espionage. The Front Story service describes the story of Natalia K. (data changed). K. is a journalist, a freelancer. “After the arrest, the ABW searches the couple’s apartment in Warsaw (rented a month earlier). (…) Agents secure equipment, phones, laptops, external drives, find payment cards in Gonzalez’s Russian name – Pavel Rubtsov. In the pockets of the jacket – receipts from Moscow” – we read. A magnet with… Vladimir Putin was supposedly attached to the refrigerator in the couple’s apartment.
After being detained, Gonzalez was taken into custody. Natalia K. was not. The reason? It is possible that the charges against her were too weak. “A handful of acquaintances, several journalists and correspondents know that Natalia K. was detained. Few of the couple’s Polish friends who visited their shared apartment are aware that Gonzalez also used Pavel Rubtsov’s Russian passport. They are shocked by the information about the nice, playful Pablo,” the website describes.
It turns out that Natalia K. is most likely Magdalena Chodownik, a freelance journalist who has published in many foreign media (e.g. in “The Guardian”; she also collaborated with the Euronews network). She dealt with issues including the migration crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border (similarly to Gonzalez, who criticized the Polish authorities for allegedly excessive brutality and not allowing media into the buffer zone).
“TP” Statement
The pair even wrote a joint text that was published in “Tygodnik Powszechny”. After the publication of the Front Story material, “Tygodnik Powszechny” issued a statement on the matter. “Magdalena Chodownik was an occasional author of ‘Tygodnik Powszechny’ until 2020. Chodownik worked as a freelance journalist, writing for many Polish and foreign titles (including The Guardian, New Eastern Europe, France 24). Since 2013, she has written several articles for us. Magdalena Chodownik proposed a text about the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, also proposing that her partner, a Spanish journalist who is on the spot in Nagorno-Karabakh, would help in writing it.” – it was indicated, confirming that Khodovnik and Rubtsov were a couple.
“The editorial staff did not have direct contact with Pablo González, but they checked who he was (at that time he belonged to a journalistic collective from Warsaw). The article ‘Days in the basement’ was the only material co-authored by Pablo González in ‘Tygodnik Powszechny’ and the last one published by Magdalena Chodownik” – emphasizes the editorial staff of ‘TP’.
Read also:
Test Rubcowa
