Bellingcat investigative journalist excluded from BAFTAs over security fears

A leading investigative journalist with a track record of uncovering stories that make uncomfortable reading for the Kremlin has been told he can’t attend this year’s British Academy (BAFTA) film awards, on the advice of British police.

Christo Grozev is the lead Russia investigator for the investigative group Bellingcat focusing on “security threats, extraterritorial clandestine operations, and the weaponization of information", CNN reports citing the organization’s website.

He had been due to attend this year’s awards ceremony in his capacity as a collaborator on the BAFTA-nominated CNN documentary “Navalny.”

The CNN Films and HBO co-production follows the work of Grozev, CNN journalists, and Alexey Navalny’s team in revealing the plot to target the Russian opposition politician in 2020.

Grozev and the team’s reporting uncovered the elite unit of Russian specialists who had been tailing Navalny on President Vladimir Putin’s orders for three years – including when he was poisoned and his body ravaged by the nerve agent Novichok in the Siberian city of Tomsk in August 2020.

The Bulgarian journalist has been on Russia’s “most wanted list” since December 2022.

In a statement to CNN, BAFTA confirmed that Grozev would not be attending this year’s awards ceremony, citing security concerns. “The safety of all our guests and staff at the ceremony is always our highest priority and we have robust and appropriate security arrangements in place every year,” BAFTA said.

According to Russia’s monitoring group OVD-Info, a criminal case on disseminating “fake news” about the Russian army has been opened against Grozev.

“I have no idea on what grounds the Kremlin has put me on its ‘wanted list,’ thus I cannot provide any comments at this time,” Grozev said in a Twitter post on Monday. “In a way, it doesn’t matter – for years they’ve made it clear they are scared of our work and would stop at nothing to make it go away.”