FREE WORD No. 135

Why is Mikhail Trepashkin really being persecuted?

Mikhail Filinov - for "Svobodnoye Slovo"

Former Chekist, now lawyer Mikhail Trepashkin was arrested on October 22. We will not talk about the fact that the Moscow region police planted a pistol in his car and that both of his criminal cases—the Moscow one for disclosing state secrets and possession of cartridges, for which Mikhail was sentenced on May 19 to four years in a settlement colony, and the Moscow region one, the trial for which is promised for June 2—were initiated by his former colleagues. But what was the reason? It is clear that Patrushev has no reason to love Trepashkin, who accuses him of poor hunting of Chechen terrorists, and eight years ago successfully challenged his dismissal from Lubyanka in court. But the second thing was a long time ago and not alone, and accusations don't stick, especially on the collars of Lubyanka tunics. Alexander Litvinenko accuses Putin and Patrushev of even greater sins, but he was only given a suspended sentence. And Trepashkin, in the case initiated against him by the military prosecutor's office in Moscow, spent many months under a travel restriction. What made the Chekists force events?

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

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

The Deceased Agent

A day after Trepashkin ended up in a dirty cell of the Moscow region police, an issue of "Moskovskiye Novosti" was published with his interview (as we found out, this material was prepared at the last moment, the editorial office decided for about two weeks 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 acquaintance from service—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 (ni...

Dispute of Economic Bandits

On October 19, old acquaintances of Mikhail Trepashkin returned from London—FSB officer (retired or not—there is a discrepancy in publications) Andrei Ponkin and businessman Alexei Alekhin. Having arrived in London on a tourist package, they ended up in a Scotland Yard cell: Ponkin's former colleague Alexander Litvinenko informed the police 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 enthusiastically wrote about this epic. Ponkin initially claimed that he was not in London and that Litvinenko was "simply sick," and then 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 after this placed in a completely different place. But does "after this" mean "as a result of this" 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 would not assert his rights. In the same book, Alekhin's name is heard for the first time:

"It started with the fact," writes Litvinenko, "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..."

"...from the co-owners of the store who worked in the FSB. That's how the case came to me.
We began to identify these bandits. It turned out that these were representatives of the Ryazan criminal group. Moreover, one of them was wanted for committing murders. And this man calmly drove around Moscow with the ID of an employee of the Ministry of Justice, was listed in the security of the head of the SOBR of the Moscow RUOP and was engaged in racketeering."

Now—the word to Ponkin (interview with "Gazeta" upon return from London):
"In the summer of this year, Alekhin was again 'hit' by bandits, this time the 'Baumans'. After the murder of their leader Globus (a thief in law, killed in 1994. - GAZETA) they are led by a certain Isa, with whom Litvinenko studied at a military school. So, the Baumans stated that they came from Litvinenko and demanded 51% of the store's shares. Alekhin wrote a statement about extortion to the police, but they did not investigate there. I asked lawyer Mikhail Trepashkin (another participant in that famous press conference, dismissed from the authorities shortly after it. - GAZETA) to participate in this case, who drew up a statement to the Moscow Prosecutor's Office. But we were 'kicked around' from there too.
During another telephone conversation with Litvinenko, I accused him of extortion. But he unexpectedly explained: they say, it's not me, but the former lawyer of Boris Berezovsky, 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 Izvestiya"):
"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 about his arrival. Misha sent an e-mail in which he warned me that a guest would arrive tomorrow. Who exactly, he did not specify. 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 the detention...

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

FREE WORD No. 135

...if only it weren't so sad

Dmitry Vorobyevsky, Voronezh
Beyond Kazbek with Vovan-bek

Shevardnadze was dragged away
From the trough, thank God.
To the young, as they say,
It's time to give way.

And Nino with Saakashvili
Are pushing their way onto the stage.
In Russia, they would have been finished off
In a back alley for treason.

But Russia is beyond Kazbek,
Beyond the thick clouds.
By a prince, a khan, or a bek
It has been ruled for centuries.

And today's little khan
"Wastes" enemies in outhouses
He started, I suppose, from the cradle,
With little bunnies in "Detsky Mir" [Children's World stores].

But then he got carried away,
Like a butting cow.
If a house exploded somewhere, —
Apparently, he is frolicking again.

If somewhere they bombed
An entire city or villages, —
It means a new Dzhugashvili
Is creating his creations again.

If people are dying like flies,
But the screens praise the "leader," —
It means "dead souls" will be added
To Judas again in the elections.

If in the name of a "messiah"
To shame or to slaughter
They drive recruits, — he is
Performing a "circumcision" on Russia.

Good people, are you not strong enough
To drag the ghoul away from the trough?
Has he not drunk his fill
Of your blood yet?

Requiem for the murdered deserters

They told you: to the Fatherland
Duty must be paid sacredly,
Not sparing even life,
Like, they say, grandfathers once did.

They kept telling you: the laws,
They say, were written for you,
And into barracks, like into "zones" [prison camps]
You were legally driven.

You were driven like a herd,
And it doesn't matter — into war or not.
They told you: "It must be so!"

For absolutely nothing
You were deprived of freedom
Boundlessly, immeasurably,
And not just for years.

The sovereign's creatures
Washed you with your own blood,
They turned you into slaves

But having rebelled, for a short while
You returned your will.
And the champions of "duty"
Killed you for it.

You, who did not spill
Innocent blood... Like wolves,

Requiem for Murdered Deserters

One must fulfill the debt sacredly,
Sparing not even life,
As, they say, grandfathers once did.

They kept telling you: the laws,
They say, were written for you,
And into barracks, like into "zones,"
You were legally driven.

You were driven like a herd,
And it doesn't matter if it was to war.
They told you: "It must be so!"
And dipped you in filth.

For absolutely nothing
You were deprived of freedom
Boundlessly, immeasurably,
And not just for years.

The sovereign's beasts
Washed you in your own blood,
They turned you into slaves
With humiliation and pain.

But having rebelled, for a short while
You returned your will.
And the champions of "duty"
Killed you for that.

You, who shed no innocent blood...
Like wolves,
You are killed, heroes.
You were killed by scum.

Conversation with Vladimir Vladimirovich

Once, TV star Leonid Gennadyevich Parfenov called Vladimir Vladimirovich.

• Listen, bro, - said Leonid Gennadyevich, - I'm tired. I've had enough.
• What have you had enough of? - Vladimir Vladimirovich didn't understand.
• Everything, - replied Leonid Gennadyevich, - I'm tired of television, tired of "Namedni", tired of NTV. I sit here like a fool in a porcelain tower on the eighth floor, I see nothing, I hear nothing, I put on what they bring me. But I want freedom. I want to walk down the street, breathe some air.
• So take a vacation, - advised Vladimir Vladimirovich.
• I can't, - complained Leonid Gennadyevich, - I just took one recently. When Jordan was fired.
• Well, then just quit altogether, - suggested Vladimir Vladimirovich.
• How can I quit? - Leonid Gennadyevich said sadly, - Who's going to let me go?
• Well... - thought Vladimir Vladimirovich. - Well then, take some terrorist and show him as beautiful, as you can.
• Why? - Leonid Gennadyevich was surprised.
• They'll let you go immediately, - Vladimir Vladimirovich said confidently. - You'll see.
• Really? - Leonid Gennadyevich asked incredulously, - Well, I'll try.
• Go ahead, try, - said Vladimir Vladimirovich. - Go for it. And when they let you go - come to me, we'll go fishing.

And Vladimir Vladimirovich hung up.
http://www.vladimir.vladimirovich.ru/

Editorial Information

Editorial address: 125414, Moscow, Onezhskaya St., 40, apt. 113, to Valeria Grigoryevna Lyubimtseva. tel: 453-3776 fax: 150-4573

Editorial Board:
* Pavel LYUZAKOV - editor-in-chief
* Anastasia DROZDOVA - executive secretary
* Alexander MAISURYAN
* Dmitry STARIKOV
* Valeria LYUBIMTSEVA

Vladimir MATVEEV - founder.

Former editors-in-chief:
* Alexander CHUEV (1988)
* Eduard MOLCHANOV (1988-91)
* Irina ALESHINA (1991-92)
* Andrei GRYAZNOV (1994-95)

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