In the late spring of 2012, Gennadios Petrovso-called main defendant Operation Troika Against the Russian mafia in Mallorca parole and pending judgment alleged crime in Spain money laundering He landed in Moscow on a few days’ leave granted by the Spanish justice, from his criminal activities. disease from her mother-in-law. According to knowledgeable sources in the Russian capital, the first thing he did was to address the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament, where he served as a deputy from the ruling United Russia party. Vladislav ReznikIts neighbor on the island of Mallorca also sued Russia’s richest parliamentarian in the same case.
Petrov, unlike the others, never fulfilled his commitment to return to Spain. alleged minor members He was acquitted of the mafia clan, finally in 2018 for lack of evidence of the criminal source of the funds. And it was a case with much more serious and dangerous consequences for the Russian state. The accused was, in fact, considered the leader of Tambóvskaya-Malysheva, one of Russia’s main mafia groups, headquartered in Saint Petersburg; a corrupt lodge engaged in all kinds of criminal activities, including blood crimes; A criminal organization with which the President of Russia is with, Vladimir Putinaccepted during his employment. as vice mayor in the second Russian city, in the 90s, main local businessesAs British journalist Catherine Belton explains in her book Putin’s Men; How the KGB took over Russia and turned against the West.
(The current Russian president and the Tambovskaya mafia) “established a very close relationship; Putin tried to build his own relationship oil terminal at the port; the organized crime groups that controlled the business reacted and threatened his family; she had to send her daughters to Germany; In this process, he realized that he could not win and combined forces With them,” Belton explains in a strong tone to EL PERIÓDICO, a newspaper belonging to the same group as this media.
this Operation TroikaIn addition, it spilled over to many members of the current Russian president’s closest circle, most notably Putin’s former classmate and current President Aleksandr Bastrykin. Research Committee Body equivalent to the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office in Russia, Spain. This is a man who has led legal action against the opposition in recent years. Alexey Navalny and that, according to Moscow, the President has just commissioned and wrongly attributed the investigation to what he described as attempts to “discredit” the Russian Army, massacres Y indiscriminate bombing Against the civilian population in Ukraine crime in today’s Russia he could be sentenced to 15 years in prison.
privileged position
According to the summary submitted by the prosecution to the National Court, due to his privileged position as a high-ranking official of the Russian Justice, Bastrykin acted many times in the interest of such a powerful criminal as Petrov. and exactly Therefore For this mafia leader Those accused in Spain never returned to our country: “In Russia, they were not interested in Petrov’s connection with someone as important as Bastrykin in Putin’s inner circle,” they tell this newspaper. nearby resources to the investigation.
The case is an irrefutable example of a phenomenon of great concern. lawyers Y experts: inability to distinguish between russian stateher political class and organized crime. In Putin’s Russia, many analysts agree that it is common for mafia groups to have privileged contacts and even, in theory, coordinate with the legislators and security forces commanders responsible for fighting them. activities.
when in spain Operation TroikaFew people in our country were aware of the important consequences that the case would have. But legal investigation It caused such turmoil in the Kremlin that it ultimately became the trigger for the 2006 assassination of former FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned with polonium in London. Aware of all this, Litvinenko, who was collaborating with the CNI at the time, Spanish intelligence services Organized crime in Spain was aware of the links between high-ranking Russian officials and the Russian president, and was preparing to travel to Spain to explain all these revelations before a judge. “Although it has already been considered a traitorHis willingness to testify was the trigger (his murder) because we know Spain is a very important conduit for KGB money laundering.”
Second Russian city, Putin’s baptism of corruption
Putin’s scene as president local In the mayor of the second Russian city in the 90s, he is prolific when it comes to controversial episodes. For the long time they have repeatedly accused Petersburg politicians Y activistsPutin was baptized with corruption practices in those difficult years, right after the collapse of the USSR, which the country faced. very serious problems for stocking the shelves of grocery stores and shops.
Marina SalyeHe announced it to EL PERIÓDICO, a former deputy of the Leningrad Supreme Soviet and the most popular local politician of the time, in 2000, shortly before Putin’s first victory. presidential election That year, during his tenure, the young deputy mayor had authorized a program to exchange rare minerals for food, which cost the city $100 million in damage. “Astronomical commissions have been blamed, 25% and 30%“, in a swap where minerals were sold at “far lower prices” than market prices and “never happened” to make things worse, the legislator blamed.
Salye said the swap, which will be one of his last press interviews, broke Russian law as contracts were hand-picked and led to the establishment of an investigative commission. “I keep the documents in a safe place,” he concluded.
weeks later After this conversation, the then-deputy went to the office of a political ally in Moscow and met, as he later put it, someone he “does not want to see under any circumstances” and whose identity he never revealed. terrified he retired for the meeting small town Close to the Latvian border and never spoke to the press again for ten years. He reappeared in 2012, just a few years before he died, already on his deathbed. 75 years.
Source: Informacion
