On August 20 of last year, the event that would turn the eyes towards the village of Čekin in Gramsh would be the unauthorized entry into the factory which was used for the dismantling of weapons and the attack that one of the Russians carried out against the Albanian soldiers, being described as Russian attack on NATO.

The Russians Svetlana Timofoeva, Mikhail Zorin and the Ukrainian Fedir Alpatov were arrested and then faced the charges from the Elbasan prosecutor’s office for “hitting due to duty”, “giving secret information”, and “providing information” carried out in cooperation

9 months later, Timofoeva and Alpatov were released at the prosecutor’s own request and released from custody due to investigation deadlines, while the third Mikhail Zorin is under house arrest.

But what brought these three young people to Albania, what was the purpose and why did they enter a factory which was extremely difficult to locate?

Mikhail Zorin was the young man who would organize the whole trip, inviting his two friends to Albania.

“Albania is a country known for factories and ruins of communism and I wanted to put it on my adventure list. I had planned a one-month trip, which started in Croatia and was supposed to end in Greece, but it ended that rainy afternoon in Gramsh. We have our groups on the Internet and I previously knew my two friends, whom I invited to join this trip, first I invited Fyodor and then Svetlana”, he told for Euronews Albania.

One year after the event, Euronews Albania visited Gramsh Plant together with Svetlana Timofoeva, to get details that have not been discussed before.

“It’s the first time I stand in front of the factory, because we entered from behind it. This place, to our knowledge, was totally abandoned, there were no stop signs, new ones have been installed now. We stayed inside for several hours and while we were outside, someone followed my Russian friend. He tried to defend himself by attacking them with spray. The police came, and as you know, they arrested all three of us”, Svetlana Timofoeva confesses.

“Everything happened outside the factory, I didn’t know what was waiting for me from those people who were following me. They were without official army clothes, one of them grabbed my bag, pulled me, and therefore I used the spray, to defend myself”, says the Russian Mikhail Zorin.

Initially, Svetlana Timofoeva would be suspected as the leader of a possible espionage group, because she had entered Albania earlier, visiting other military areas.

Sources for Euronews Albania indicate that initially Timofoeva would enter Albania on April 3, 2018 and leave 12 days later from Qafë-Thana. The second time she would return on March 16, 2019 and would only stay for two days. The third time she arrived in Tirana on August 17.

“Mikhail organized everything. He told me that he would also tell a friend of his from Ukraine, who is the guy with the orange sports car. I didn’t know that he actually had this car and I was surprised when I saw it, but I had already come to Albania and it was too late to refuse this trip. We went inside through the ruins of communism and in Gramsh we spent hours photographing old tools, weapon parts and other things. We entered from the back of the factory, it was very easy to get in and we took pictures of everything we saw, as we always do”, said Timofoeva.

The prosecution of Elbasan continues to maintain its suspicions that they are Russian spies, and it bases this position on the maps visited, 5 mobile devices found. But more compelling to investigators is a secret document signed in front of counterterrorism agents by Zorin, a chemistry student who was allegedly recruited during a protest in Russia.

Everything else he said is considered a national security secret. The three young men between the ages of 28 and 34 were caught by two soldiers in an attempt to leave, the prosecutor’s office of Elbasan points out, according to which one of them physically collided with them by throwing spray.

Today, Mikhail Zorin lives for rent in Tirana, in an apartment that Euronews Albania cannot make public due to the danger to the lives of the suspects.

Zorin lives together with Alpatov and Timofoeva, all three with documents blocked by the Albanian state and surveillance by the authorities.

In a previous confession during the intensive investigations of the Albanian authorities, the chemistry student has admitted that he came to Albania on assignment from the Russian FSB services.

Together with his friends, he photographed points of well-known guilds in Bovillë, Poliçan, Patos and Gramsh, and also photographed various water pipes.

Now that months have passed since this statement signed by him, Zorin tells journalist Xhensil Shkëmbi a version where he accepts to sign the confession. However, he adds that he gave a self-incriminating confession because of police violence.

“Yes, it is true that I signed these documents, but I only signed them because I wanted to save myself. The police threatened me, caused me pain, put pressure on me, hit me on the face and head and other parts of the body”, Zorin declared.

This claim of Mikahil Zorin is opposed by the prosecutor of the case, Kreshnik Ajazi, who in a communication with Euronews Albania indicates that with this citizen suspected of being a spy, every legal procedure was respected and at the time of signing these secret documents, his lawyer and the translator were present.

Meanwhile, Isuf Shehu, the current lawyer of the two Russians, has denied knowing about this claim raised by his client, stating that at the time of the signing, Zorin was not his client, but another lawyer’s.

While the prosecution is waiting for a response from SPAK on the report-expertise on the blocked devices, their lawyer is also waiting to get acquainted with documents that are still considered classified.

Another claim raised by Timofoeva, which accuses the Albanian institutions, is related to the bad treatment she received in prison. She says that for the first 2 months she was not allowed to communicate with anyone from her family, not even with the defense lawyer. The latter confirms Timofoeva’s accusation.

“For the first three months I was placed in the prison hospital, in complete isolation, without any contact with the outside world, I was not allowed to talk to anyone, not even the police. Then I was transferred to the women’s prison, again in solitary confinement, where I was not allowed to speak to anyone. When I wanted to talk to him, I needed a phone. There was no phone in the hospital, and I couldn’t call my family in Russia because there were no phone options. I asked to speak to my lawyer, but again I was not allowed to speak to him. Until a group from the People’s Advocate came to ask me about my conditions, while I had no clothes and no rights. Only then did the situation get resolved, but the pain was big to not to talk to anyone for almost two months. Even the women sentenced to prison were forbidden to communicate with me in those months”, said Timofoeva.

Both Russians deny having ever had contact with the Russian intelligence services, while they plan to live in Albania, as according to them, they are no longer safe in their country due to their anti-Putin stance and anti-war they have made on their social media.

“I have never been in contact with them, I condemn all their action, I am against Putin and against every anti-human act of theirs. I have said this publicly several times”, said Zorin.

“There is nothing to spy on here. There are only a few abandoned industrial areas, I don’t believe there is any interest in espionage in the state these places are in. I have never been in contact with anything like that. It’s even funny when you want to bring tourists here, someone comes often as a tourist, you name them a spy”, Timofoeva declared.

The third, Ukrainian Fedir Alpatov, refused to speak, because as Xhensil Shkëmbi told the journalist off camera, he is following the recommendation of his father, who advised him: “The further away from the cameras, the further away from attention”.