“Followed the Russian oligarchs”: in Italy, as a result of a disaster on the lake, veterans of the Italian and Israeli special services died

The popular Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera published an article that tells unexpected details of the tragedy on Lake Maggiore. On Sunday, May 29, there was a strong storm. He swooped in suddenly. One of the yachts capsized and sank. There were 25 people on it. Four of them died.

It was initially reported that they were ordinary tourists, including several foreigners. However, later it became known that they were all former agents of the Italian special services and the Israeli intelligence Mossad.

Corriere della Sera names them - Mossad veteran Erez Shimoni, Italians Claudio Alonzi and Tiziana Barnobi, and the Russian wife of the yacht skipper Anna Bozhkova.

Journalist Andrea Galli believes that such a company could not have come together by chance. He believes that Shimoni and his colleagues were spying on the Russian rich, showing increased attention to the coast and the islands of Lago Maggiore. Saving their capital from sanctions and possible confiscation, wealthy Russians see these places as a safe haven.

Lago Maggiore is not as popular as, for example, the famous Lake Como. Therefore, interest in it is growing rapidly every month.

“The ban on the export of capital from Russia, imposed after the start of the war in Ukraine, is easily circumvented thanks to deposits in Switzerland, Italian and foreign companies run by friends of wealthy Russians. Wives and mistresses of Russian oligarchs are increasingly appearing on Lago Maggiore. They land in Malpensa (one of the airports in Milan) and then move only by cars with drivers in order to demonstrate their movements less. Their route first lies to the shores of Lugano (Switzerland), and then from the canton of Ticino - north of Italy to the shores of Lago Maggiore.“Gally writes.

“Land and houses on the coast of Verbania (Piedmont region, Italy) are predominantly owned by Orthodox Jews who have old villas where they hold private parties with American guests. More often these are politicians and officials, and not actors and singers. In short, an endless mixture of people, required connections and interests, euros and dollars. Maybe the secret services were following a specific person and the flows of his investments?“- suggests an Italian journalist.

He emphasizes that the group on the yacht, which consisted entirely of Israeli and Italian intelligence veterans, tried to look like an ordinary group of friends or tourists. The skipper’s Russian wife could also act as an interpreter.

A noisy group would not arouse suspicion. It would have been easier for one of them to choose the time and place for the installation of “bugs”, as well as covert surveillance of someone.

Earlier wrote that Russian spies tried to buy military equipment in Norway.