RFE: Suspected Russian spy seeks top security post in Serbia, Central Asia

Moscow has nominated Dmitry Iordanidi, a former deputy head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission to Bosnia-Herzegovina with deep experience in the Balkans, to lead the organization’s mission to Serbia, internal OSCE records obtained by RFE/RL show.

His candidacy comes amid mounting accusations from the United States and European governments in recent years of “malign” Russian activities across the region covered by the 57-nation regional security body based in Vienna.

Iordanidi, 55, is one of 20 Russian diplomats who quietly left Brussels in 2023 due to allegations by the Belgian State Security Service (VSSE) that they were spies working under cover, according to a list compiled by Belgian intelligence and authenticated independently by three Western intelligence sources, the joint investigation by RFE/RL, the Brussels-based news site EUobserver, the Belgian daily De Morgen, the Belgian weekly Humo, and the French daily Le Monde found.

According to RFE, one intelligence source called the spy purge an “occasion to empty our drawer” in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

While the Belgian government does not publish lists of accredited diplomats in the country, and Russia's diplomatic mission in Brussels does not publish the names of its personnel, RFE/RL independently verified the presence of several of the expelled Russian diplomats in Belgium in 2023.

The Russian diplomats, who have not been publicly identified until now, were alleged in the list to be affiliated with Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) or its military intelligence directorate, known as the GRU, reported RFE.

Iordanidi, whom the Belgian intelligence list identifies as affiliated with the SVR, is the only diplomat among the 20 who was not declared persona non grata, according to one intelligence source. The source said Russia recalled Iordanidi after Belgium communicated that Iordanidi would be declared persona non grata if Moscow did not recall him.

Now, Moscow is trying to place Iordanidi back with the OSCE, the Vienna-based multilateral organization that, until Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, had played a central role in monitoring Russian aggression in Ukraine and attempting to mediate between Moscow and Kyiv, RFE reported.

Iordanidi was listed as one of eight nominees for OSCE mission head in Serbia following the December 1, 2024, deadline for candidate submissions, according to the document obtained by RFE/RL.

Russia also nominated him to head an OSCE program office in Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek, and for the same position in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana.

The OSCE said in an e-mailed statement that the recruitment for all three of these positions is still ongoing and that it could not comment on the matter, citing confidentiality.

The positions are appointed by the OSCE chairperson-in-office -- currently Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen -- in consultation with senior current and former OSCE officials and the host countries of the respective missions, OSCE spokesperson Alexandra Taylor said.

“We follow a rigorous recruitment process for all of our positions at the OSCE,” Taylor said.

Western officials and governments have accused Moscow of acting as a saboteur of the OSCE and abusing the organization's consensual politics, including in connection with Russia’s war on Ukraine – now the largest and bloodiest in Europe since World War II.

Russia has criticized the OSCE as “being reformatted to become an appendage of NATO and the EU.”

Following RFE/RL investigations into suspected Russian intelligence influence on the OSCE, the organization’s parliamentary assembly, which facilitates dialogue among member states, called on OSCE leadership “to initiate relevant discussions and security checks to rid the organization of the Russian destructive influence.”

Russia has previously sent its diplomats expelled by EU states for alleged espionage to its embassy in Serbia, where President Aleksandar Vucic has sought to maintain Belgrade's traditionally strong ties with Russia, a March 2023 investigation by RFE/RL revealed.

Neither Iordanidi nor the Russian Embassy in Brussels responded to requests for comment.

Read the full story on the RFE website.