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In early October, Nikolai Yezhov was appointed to a seat in Russia’s Federation Council representing Magadan Region (as noted by Govorít NeMoskva). Immediately prior to his appointment, Yezhov served as a federal inspector in Magadan. However, as The Insider reported earlier, Yezhov was previously part of a group of GRU officers that was responsible for setting off explosions at ammunition depots in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic.
The decision to appoint Yezhov as senator was made on Oct. 9, according to a decree issued by the regional governor. As Govorit NeMoskva notes, the change in the Federation Council seat took place after the September elections, when former rector of the North-Eastern State University Anatoly Shirokov, who had held the senatorial post since 2014, was recalled.
Nikolai Yezhov is a GRU officer from Military Unit 29155. As The Insider established, he used the cover identity “Nikolai Kononikhin” while traveling to Europe to participate in operations targeting weapons depots in Bulgaria in 2015 and ammunition warehouses in the Czech Republic in 2014.
Yezhov was also mentioned in the joint investigation by The Insider, Der Spiegel, and Bellingcat into the involvement of GRU officers in the 2015 poisoning of Bulgarian businessman Emilian Gebrev with a nerve agent.
Subsequently, Nikolai Yezhov-Kononikhin, who had taken part in the operations in Bulgaria between 2011 and 2015, became the chief federal inspector for the Far Eastern Magadan District.