Putin rewards U.S. man with a Russian passport for spying in Ukraine
Martindale received his passport from interior ministry officials at a ceremony in Moscow, according to state media and a video published by Pushilin. Martindale thanked Russia for "accepting me," and said becoming a Russian citizen was a "dream." "Russia is not only my home, but my family," he said in Russian on the video. After two years spying on Ukraine, he was extracted in "a complex evacuation operation" after Moscow started to fear his life was in danger if he stayed any longer, Pushilin said. In November 2024, state media reported Russian security forces had taken him to Russia and Martindale lodged his application for Russian citizenship. A Telegram account purporting to be his posted that same month: "Hello, I'm Daniel Martindale, the guy that Russian soldiers risked their lives to evacuate from the village where I had lived for two years."
Around that same time, Martindale told pro-Russian bloggers that he had arrived in Ukraine shortly before Russia launched its invasion, hoping to reach the Ukrainian border region of Donetsk. Martindale told the bloggers he had contacted Russian intelligence services on his own initiative and was told to go to the city of Vuhledar and wait for Russian forces to arrive. He said he remained in the city, pretending to be a missionary, until the fall of 2024, when Russian troops seized the city after a protracted battle.
Ukrainian journalists have found some evidence to suggest that Martindale may have been recruited by Russian agencies years earlier, as he visited Russia between 2016 and 2019, taking university courses. According to some reports, he was deported from Russia in 2019 for violating labor laws.
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