The Deceased Agent

Only conditionally. Moreover, Trepashkin had been under travel restrictions for many months in the case initiated against him by the military prosecutor's office in Moscow. What forced the Chekists to rush events?

The arrest coincided with two interesting events:
* The start of hearings in the Moscow City Court regarding the apartment bombings (October 31).
* The story of the assassination attempt on President Putin via London.

Either of the two could have been the reason for the arrest.

The Deceased Agent

A day after Trepashkin ended up in a filthy cell of the Moscow region police, an issue of "Moskovskie Novosti" was published with his interview (as we found out, this material was not prepared at the last moment; the editorial office spent about two weeks deciding whether to publish it). Mikhail, who was investigating the apartment bombings in Moscow, tells journalist Igor Korolkov about his suspicions.

The composite sketch of the person who rented the premises for the bombings is very similar, according to Mikhail, to his former colleague — Vladimir Romanovich. Romanovich was part of a Chechen gang in Moscow, and, judging by everything, was embedded in it by the FSB. Later, this man died in a car accident in Cyprus. (Not a single "Chechen bandit" ever appeared in the bombing case).

Trepashkin partially confirmed his suspicions with witness testimony: he introduced the journalist to the owner of the premises in the bombed house in Pechatniki. Businessman Mario Blumenfeld claims that the terrorist who rented the premises from him and the main accused in the bombings, Achimez Gochiyayev, are completely different people.

Blumenfeld stated this later at the trial in the Moscow City Court. One of the lawyers involved in that trial told us that this man's testimony could have turned the entire trial around. But it went unnoticed.

As the official defender of the victims — the Morozov sisters — Trepashkin was supposed to participate in the trial. The resonance from his statement about agent Romanovich would hardly have been greater than after the newspaper publication. But at the trial, Mikhail could have learned some other facts confirming his words: he had the right to ask questions to the defendants and witnesses, and to call new witnesses. Naturally, in this capacity, he was much more dangerous to the organizers of the bombings.

Under various formal pretexts, Trepashkin was not even allowed to review the case file. But the trial lasted more than one day, and I think Mikhail would have tried to settle all formalities as quickly as possible to have time to participate in the trial.

...that the visitors asked him to help organize an assassination attempt on Putin. After five days, the heroes were released, and they returned to their homeland. The Russian embassy was not interested in them.

For two days, the Russian press wrote enthusiastically about this epic. Ponkin initially claimed that he had not been to London and that Litvinenko was "simply sick," but then he said that, on the contrary, he went to Litvinenko to campaign for the motherland and the president and to ask Berezovsky to help find a job for Trepashkin and another retired Chekist — Shcheglov. Trepashkin, as we see, was placed in a completely different place after that. But does "after that" mean "as a result of that" here?

What is Trepashkin's role in this story?

Litvinenko mentions Trepashkin in his book "Lubyanka Criminal Group": the FSB's "extrajudicial killings department," where Litvinenko worked, was ordered to imprison or kill the dismissed Chekist Trepashkin so that he wouldn't assert his rights. The name Alekhin is mentioned for the first time in the same book:

"It started with the fact," Litvinenko writes, "that I was assigned to handle the case of businessman Alekhin, the director of a store in the area of the three railway stations — near the Krasnoselskaya metro station. Alekhin had serious problems. When the store opened, the owners appointed him director. After some time, a man came to him and said that he controlled this territory and he must pay him. Alekhin refused.

The next day, several people came, put him in a car, and brought him to Obrucheva Street. In a semi-basement room, a man was sitting at a table. He pulled out an ID and said: 'I am a colonel of the Moscow RUOP, head of the SOBR (Special Rapid Response Unit). My last name is Yurshevich. And you will pay, otherwise you will have problems.' Alekhin agreed: 'If you are the police, then of course.' And he began to give them five thousand dollars a month.

After some time, they came again and said: 'Give us seven.' Alekhin began to pay them seven. Then they raised the tribute to nine thousand. Alekhin paid. They reached fifteen. And then Alekhin howled: 'I'm ruined!'. But they only got angry: 'Oh, so that's how it is, we have a store just like yours, it pays fifteen thousand. That means you're lying, hiding profit. For this, you will not only pay fifteen, but also a forty-five thousand fine.'

Alekhin kept saying — I can't afford that much. Then they said: 'Well, just you wait.'

On the evening of the same day, people burst into Alekhin's home and demanded forty-five thousand dollars from him. They beat him, took his wife's gold items, documents for the dacha, for the car, and left. Then Alekhin ran to one... who drafted a statement to the Moscow Prosecutor's Office. But we were 'brushed off' from there as well.

During another phone conversation with Litvinenko, I accused him of extortion. Но he unexpectedly explained: they say, it's not me, but Boris Berezovsky's former lawyer Anatoly Blinov.

Then Alekhin and I decided to fly to England — to rest and clarify the issue with the store. On October 5, we arrived at Heathrow."

And here is what Alexander Litvinenko said in those days ("Novye Izvestia"):

"Ponkin reached out to me through Trepashkin. About four months ago, Misha called me and said that a former colleague was looking for me, dictated the phone number, and asked me to call back. I called," says Alexander Litvinenko. "It was Ponkin. Before coming to England, he again turned to Trepashkin and asked him to warn me about his arrival. Misha sent an email in which he warned me that a guest would arrive tomorrow. He did not specify who exactly. I have no doubt that Trepashkin knew nothing about Ponkin's true intentions. He was simply used."

Newspaper correspondent Polina Shershneva adds:

A few days before his detention, Mikhail Trepashkin called the "NI" editorial office and said that a close friend of his had disappeared in England. According to Trepashkin, these events were somehow connected with the name of Alexander Litvinenko. Obviously, he meant Andrei Ponkin.

I will add: lawyer Blinov's office is in the same building as Alekhin's store. Recently, there have been many reports in the press about Blinov's arrest on charges of financial fraud (one of the journalistic versions is that the lawyer was somehow involved in the falsification of the presidential elections in Bashkiria). The store closed "for renovation" a few days after the heroes returned and is still closed. Out of curiosity, I looked at this store. I didn't see any signs of renovation.

You are offered only facts. "Facts" in this case are not what actually happened (this, I hope, we will find out when Trepashkin is free); the facts here consist of what such-and-such a person said. We leave it to the reader to make any constructions from this, since plenty of publications about each of these episodes can be found.

Either of the two possible reasons for Trepashkin's arrest looks more serious than the "accidental" discovery of a pistol in his car.

May 27, 2004