In Which We Learn a Little Bit More About Smirnov

Smirnov is the one in the middle

We know a little bit more about Alexander Smirnov now, based on the government's detention memo. He is a dual US-Israeli citizen, presumably one of a large flood of Soviet Jews who moved to Israel when the ex-Soviet Union dissolved into chaos.  This is confirmed by the statement that he lived in Israel from 1992 to 2006. His parents are still alive and live in Israel. He (presumably) moved to California in 2006 and since 2022 he has lived in a $1.4 million condo in Las Vegas owned in the name of his wife/ girlfriend.  His employment is somewhat shady.  Even his wife/girlfriend does not appear to know what it is. The memo appears to think he is a venture capitalist. Another possibility, of course, is professional informant.  Whatever Smirnov does, he is apparently successful at it.  He has some $6 million in liquid funds.

We even have a picture of Alexander Smirnov now, of sorts. He is not the first defendant to cover his face while doing the perp walk, after all.  (The woman in the picture is presumably his wife/girlfriend).  

More significantly, the memo also alleges that Smirnov has extensive contacts to Russian intelligence officials, some of them quite high-ranking.  One controls groups that are engaged in overseas assassination efforts.  He also appears to be involved in attempting to negotiate a resolution of the Ukrainian war.  And he knows Russian intelligence officials who intercept calls by US officials and may use them in an effort to influence the election.  Three of his contacts have direct, immediate access to Russia's ruling circles.  One has a father in Russia's ruling circles.  The details are mind-numbing, but they do make clear why the FBI kept Smirnov on as an informant, even after they caught him blatantly lying to them.  That kind of access can't be easy to find, and must be worth a few lies now and then, even really outrageous ones.  

In the murky world of espionage, it is not always clear who is spying on who; who is doing the manipulating and who is being manipulated.  In Smirnov's case, the FBI began to view his contacts as "not benign."  In September, 2023 (when the FBI interviewed Smirnov two months after opening the investigation), he claimed that Hunter has stayed at the Premier Palace in Kiev and been filmed and recorded by Russian intelligence.  He claimed to have this information from four different Russian officials.  The FBI knew these stories were false, since Hunter had never been to Kiev.  The report sees this as an attempt to tamper with US elections.

It is not clear from this account whether Smirnov is knowingly working for the Russian intelligence service, or whether they are merely playing him for a fool.  Either way, the Russians are clearly onto Smirnov, and his usefulness to the FBI is at an end, hence their willingness to prosecute him.