Bastrykin Alexander Ivanovich, Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation: biography, family, title. Alexander Bastrykin Chairman of the Russian Federation Council Alexander Bastrykin

First Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation - Chairman of the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office, in office since September 2007. In October 2006 - September 2007, he served as Deputy Prosecutor General. In June-October 2006, he was the head of the main department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Central Federal District. In 2001-2006, he headed the Department of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation for the North-Western Federal District. He was the director of the North-Western branch of the Russian Law Academy and the rector of the St. Petersburg Law Institute. Doctor of Law, Professor.

Alexander Ivanovich Bastrykin was born on August 27, 1953 in Pskov. In 1975 he graduated from the Faculty of Law of the Leningrad State University (LSU). Bastrykin was the head of the group in which Vladimir Putin studied, who served as president of the Russian Federation in 2000-2008. Actively engaged in public work, joined the CPSU (remained a member of the party until it was banned in August 1991). After graduating from the university, he was sent for distribution to the internal affairs bodies, where he worked until 1979 (according to other sources, until 1977) as a criminal investigation inspector and investigator.

In 1977-1980, Bastrykin was a postgraduate student at the Faculty of Law of the Leningrad State University. In 1980 he defended his dissertation for the degree of candidate of legal sciences on the topic "Problems of investigating criminal cases involving foreign citizens." From the same year, he began to engage in teaching, Komsomol and party work. Bastrykin was a lecturer, senior lecturer at the Department of Criminal Procedure and Criminalistics, Faculty of Law, Leningrad State University. From 1980 to 1985 he was the secretary of the Komsomol Committee of the Leningrad State University, the secretary of the Leningrad city committee of the Komsomol. The media noted that at the same time, Valentina Matvienko, who in October 2003 was elected governor of St. Petersburg, worked in the Leningrad bodies of the Komsomol.

In 1986, Bastrykin became deputy secretary of the Leningrad State University party committee. In 1987, he defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic "Problems of interaction between the norms of domestic and international law in the field of criminal justice."

Since 1988, Bastrykin headed the Leningrad Institute for the Improvement of Investigative Workers under the USSR Prosecutor's Office. In 1992-1996, he served as rector of the St. Petersburg Law Institute and received the academic title of professor. According to some sources, Bastrykin also headed the department of transport law at the St. Petersburg State University of Water Communications.

In 1996-1998, Bastrykin was an assistant to the commander of the North-Western District of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for legal work. In 1998, he was appointed director of the North-Western Branch of the Russian Law Academy of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation. In July 2001, he became head of the Department of the Ministry of Justice for the North-Western Federal District (NWFD), in June 2006 - head of the Main Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Central Federal District (CFD).

On October 6, 2006, Bastrykin was appointed Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Yuri Chaika, supervised the investigation of criminal cases. According to media reports, Bastrykin was in conflict with another Chaika deputy, Viktor Grin, who was directly in charge of the investigation. In May 2007, President Putin signed a law that provided for the creation of an Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office. The head of this structure should be the first deputy prosecutor general, but he should be appointed by the Federation Council on the proposal of the president and, thus, actually became independent of the prosecutor's office. In particular, he had independence in the conduct of personnel policy. On June 22, 2007, the Federation Council approved Bastrykin's candidacy for the post of chairman of the Investigative Committee. About three months after that, while the apparatus of the new structure was being formed, organizational and legal issues were being resolved, Bastrykin was the acting head of the committee.

According to some observers, Bastrykin was guided by presidential aide Igor Sechin, who allegedly intended to take revenge after the resignation of his protege Vladimir Ustinov from the post of prosecutor general in the summer of 2006 and his appointment to a less influential position as head of the Ministry of Justice.

The purpose of creating the Investigative Committee was the separation of the actual investigation, which was supposed to be handled by Bastrykin's committee, and supervision of the investigation and representation of the prosecution in court, which, like extradition issues, remained with the prosecutor's office. The media suggested that the actual removal of the functions of the investigation from the prosecutor's office was supposed to weaken its political influence, which increased sharply after the start of the "YUKOS case" in 2003 and was once again demonstrated in 2006-2007 during the "customs case" and the initiation of a number of criminal trials against regional and city heads.

After his approval as acting head of the Investigative Committee, Bastrykin made several messages to the media, talking about the investigation of the most high-profile criminal cases. So, regarding the disclosure of the murder in October 2006 of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, he said that a significant part of the six initial versions had already disappeared and now the rest are being worked out. Bastrykin also commented on the course of the investigation into the death of former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko, close to businessman Boris Berezovsky, who died in November 2006 in London as a result of poisoning with the radioactive substance polonium-210. Bastrykin said that Russian investigators are cooperating closely with British colleagues, although they allegedly do not receive due feedback from them. According to him, the British side is working out only one version of what happened, according to which the killer is Russian businessman Andrei Lugovoi. The Russian side would like to work out several other versions. According to media reports, Bastrykin also claimed that Litvinenko was most likely poisoned by Berezovsky himself.

August 13, 2007 in the Novgorod region derailed fast train "Nevsky Express" on the route Moscow - St. Petersburg. As a result, 60 people were injured, more than two dozen of them were hospitalized. Bastrykin led a group of investigators and criminologists who went to the scene. According to preliminary data, the cause of the accident was an explosion on the tracks of a homemade bomb. In fact, the prosecutor's office opened a criminal case under Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("terrorism"). Bastrykin announced the completion of the investigation into the case of the Nevsky Express bombing at the end of February 2009. Natives of Ingushetia Salanbek Dzakhkiev and Maksharip Khidriev were involved as defendants in this case. However, they were involved in the case “only as accomplices in the organizer and perpetrator of the terrorist act, which, according to the investigation, was a certain Pavel Kosolapov, who was wanted for organizing a series of terrorist attacks in 2003-2005. , remained unknown.

On September 7, 2007, Bastrykin officially assumed the position of chairman of the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation. On the same day, he signed an order to transfer more than 18 thousand employees from the prosecutor's office to the committee. There was also a transfer of 60,000 criminal cases throughout the country to the investigative units of the new agency. Bastrykin told journalists that the Investigative Committee would not compete with the prosecutor's office, since they have different areas of activity. On September 19, Bastrykin was dismissed from the post of Deputy Prosecutor General and became the First Deputy Prosecutor General, which, according to the law, corresponded to the position of the head of the Investigative Committee.

At the same time, a number of investigators who dealt with high-profile criminal cases in the recent past did not enter the staff of Bastrykin's department. So, the Investigative Committee did not get: Salavat Karimov, senior investigator for especially important cases of the Prosecutor General's Office, who led the investigation of two criminal cases against businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky; Sergei Ivanov, head of the Directorate for the Investigation of Particularly Important Cases of the Prosecutor General's Office, who led the investigation team in the Politkovskaya murder case; Andrei Mayorov, deputy head of this department, who supervised the investigation into the poisoning of Litvinenko. In addition, the committee did not include investigators who dealt with the cases of deceived investors of the Social Initiative partnership, the case of smuggling mobile phones by the Euroset company, and the case of the raider seizure of several enterprises in St. Petersburg in 2006-2007. All suspended investigators were given jobs in the central office of the Prosecutor General's Office. An anonymous source in Chaika's office told journalists that "such a decision causes nothing but bewilderment," and added that the prosecutor's office's own security service, which has been in existence for a year, officially has no complaints against these employees.

Subsequently, the media noted that contradictions arose between the UPC and the Prosecutor General's Office in connection with the division of functions, property and funds allocated for their maintenance, since "the interpretation of the legislation made it possible to consider the UPC as a practically independent body, both in procedural and administrative terms. ". They also wrote in the press about the existence of a personal conflict between Bastrykin and Chaika, which was accompanied "not only by correspondence controversy and the stuffing of compromising evidence in the media, but also by a scandal" around the ex-head of the Main Investigation Department (GSU) of the Investigative Committee Dmitry Dovgy, who actually accused Bastrykin "of fabrication of a number of criminal cases" (in April 2008, Bastrykin signed an order to dismiss and dismiss Dovgy, and in August 2008, Dovgy was arrested on suspicion of attempting to receive a bribe on an especially large scale and abuse of power). It was noted that the criminal cases against the Deputy Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation Sergey Storchak and the head of the operational support department of the State Drug Control Service Alexander Bulbov, which appeared against the backdrop of the conflict between the UPC and the Prosecutor General's Office, gave reason to see "the political situation, to doubt the objectivity of the investigation".

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation confirmed the supremacy of the Prosecutor General's Office over the UPC only at the beginning of March 2009. Having analyzed the norms that regulated the activities of the UPC and the Prosecutor General's Office, the court recognized that the orders of the Prosecutor General "are binding on representatives of the UPC, including the head of this department himself." The Supreme Court also determined that the Attorney General had the right to reverse the decision of his first deputy. Thus, as noted by the media, the court resolved "the dilemma of which of the ... leaders (Bastrykin or Chaika - ed.) is more important."

At the beginning of August 2008, the situation in the area of ​​the South Ossetian city of Tskhinvali, the zone of presence of Russian and Georgian peacekeepers, escalated. On August 8, 2008, Georgian troops entered the territory of South Ossetia, and the capital of the unrecognized republic, the city of Tskhinvali, was subjected to heavy artillery fire. On August 9, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced the start of an operation "to enforce peace in the zone of the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict." After a trip to Vladikavkaz, Prime Minister Putin called what was happening in South Ossetia a genocide of the Ossetian people and offered to document the crimes committed against the civilian population. Then Medvedev decided to entrust Bastrykin with coordinating work on collecting documentary evidence of the crimes of the Georgian side in South Ossetia, which "will become the basis for the future criminal prosecution of those who committed crimes."

After that, the Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation for North Ossetia - the closest subject of the federation to the scene of the incident - opened a criminal case in connection with the Georgian attack on South Ossetia on charges of premeditated murder of two or more persons in a generally dangerous way (Part 2 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) . Kommersant also reported that earlier the military prosecutor's office opened a criminal case in connection with the murder of Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia. The publication wrote that the investigators began to work in the refugee camps: they interviewed the victims, witnesses, relatives of the victims (according to unofficial data, their number on August 12, 2008 was more than 2 thousand people). A few days later, the Investigative Committee recognized what happened in South Ossetia as genocide, on the basis of which it opened a single criminal case. At the same time, Bastrykin said that evidence on the fact of the genocide was being collected "both for an internal Russian investigation and for possible transfer to international instances."

In late August, after the end of the conflict, which was dubbed the "five-day war" in the press, Bastrykin gave an interview to Rossiyskaya Gazeta, in which he stated that "the facts of genocide against the Ossetian people are fully confirmed." He compared the crimes of the Georgian army, which, according to him, invaded South Ossetia, "pursuing the goal of complete annihilation of the national group of Ossetians," with "fascist atrocities during the war years." In February 2009, at the final meeting in the Prosecutor General's Office, Bastrykin announced the completion of the investigation. He noted that the fact of Georgia's genocide against the Ossetian people "is fully confirmed." On July 3, 2009, Bastrykin announced that in the case of the events in South Ossetia, the death of 162 civilians was officially confirmed, and in total 5315 people were recognized as victims.

Bastrykin has the rank of First Class State Counselor of Justice, is an honorary worker of justice, a full member of the Academy of Security, Defense and Law Enforcement Problems, the Russian Academy of Social Sciences and the Baltic Pedagogical Academy. He is the author of a number of scientific papers on criminal law and the theory of state and law, as well as a series of journalistic articles. Bastrykin has state and public awards, including medals of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation "For diligence" I and II degrees. On September 1, 2008, President Medvedev awarded Bastrykin with the Order of Merit for the Fatherland "for great services in strengthening law and order, many years of fruitful activity."

Bastrykin is married and has two children.

Alexander Ivanovich Bastrykin- Soviet and Russian statesman, chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, also in his biography was the post of Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation. Alexander Bastrykin - General of Justice, legal scholar, Doctor of Law, writer.

The early years and education of Alexander Bastrykin

Father - Ivan Ilyich Bastrykin(1920−1993) - originally from the Kuban Cossacks. He was called up by the Komsomol recruitment to the fleet. Member of the Soviet-Finnish War and the Great Patriotic War. Bastrykin's grandfather, Ilya Kallistratovich, was shot in 1942 by Nazi invaders in the yard of his own house, in the village of Novo-Mikhailovskaya, Krasnodar Territory, as the father of a Komsomol and Red Navy soldier who fought on the fronts of the fight against Nazi invaders.

Mother - Evgenia Antonovna Antonova survived the siege of Leningrad. She worked as a machine operator in a besieged city at a defense enterprise. Since 1943, she fought as part of the combat units of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, was an anti-aircraft gunner. She took part in the battles for Koenigsberg.

The Bastrykins lived in Pskov until 1958, and then moved to Leningrad. Alexander went to school with an in-depth study of the humanities. He studied well, according to Bastrykin's biography on Wikipedia. In addition, he was an active boy, studied classical dances, played the guitar, attended a theater studio, a school for a young journalist at the youth newspaper Smena, went in for sports, and he was especially fond of volleyball.

After graduating from school, Alexander Bastrykin entered the law faculty of Leningrad State University. And at the university, Alexander was an active student. Firstly, he was the head of the group, he studied well. After graduating from high school in 1975, Bastrykin received a distribution to the police.

In 1977, Alexander entered graduate school, and already in 1980 he defended his thesis.

Career of Alexander Bastrykin

In the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, Alexander Bastrykin began his career as an investigator, then as an inspector of the criminal investigation department. Entered the ranks of the CPSU.

After defending his Ph.D. thesis, Alexander Bastrykin worked as a teacher at the university, and at the same time was actively involved in Komsomol activities. Alexander Ivanovich went from the secretary of the Komsomol committee of the Leningrad State University to the secretary of the Leningrad regional committee of the Komsomol.

Then, from 1986 to 1988, Bastrykin was in charge of ideological work at the party committee of Leningrad State University.

Continuing to engage in scientific activities, Alexander Bastrykin defended his doctoral dissertation in 1987.

In 1988, he continued his career as director of the Institute for the Improvement of Qualifications of Investigative Workers at the USSR Prosecutor's Office in Leningrad. Alexander Bastrykin worked in this position until 1991.

Further, from the biography of Bastrykin, it is known that he was the rector and professor of the St. Petersburg Law Institute (1992-1995), and after that he headed the Department of Transport Law at the University of Water Communications (1995-1996).

In 1996-1998, Alexander Bastrykin served as deputy commander of the troops of the North-Western District for legal work, and then headed the North-Western branch of the Russian Academy of Law.

Bastrykin's career growth continued in the Ministry of Justice, where he moved to work in 2001. Since 2006, Alexander Ivanovich worked as a Deputy Prosecutor General, supervised the issues of compliance with the legality of the preliminary investigation in the main department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

In the photo: Deputy Chairman of the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor of the Russian Federation Alexander Bastrykin and Russian President Vladimir Putin (from left to right) during a meeting in the Kremlin, 2007 (Photo: Dmitry Astakhov)

In 2008, the Presidential Anti-Corruption Council was established. Alexander Bastrykin became a member.

In February 2008, a regional prosecutor was killed in Saratov Evgeny Grigoriev. Alexander Bastrykin personally led the investigation, which ended within three weeks. The case was opened.

When the Investigative Committee was created within the prosecutor's office, Alexander Bastrykin personally signed the order to transfer 18 thousand employees from the prosecutor's office to the Investigative Committee, as he acted as head of the committee. The new structure was created by the Federal Law of June 5, 2007 No. 87-FZ “On Amending the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation and the Federal Law “On the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation”” within the framework of the prosecutor's office.

In 2008, the investigation group of the Investigative Committee conducted an investigation into the so-called five-day war - the armed aggression of Georgia against South Ossetia. The work of the group was headed by Alexander Bastrykin. The case was referred to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

In the photo: Alexander Bastrykin, Chairman of the Investigative Committee at the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation, Yuri Chaika, Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, and Sergei Shoigu, Head of the Russian Emergencies Ministry, during a working visit, 2009 (Photo: Vladimir Mukagov / TASS)

In 2009, the head of the UK sharply criticized Russia's migration policy, leading to an increase in crime among migrants, and a high level of corruption in the Federal Migration Service. It is worth noting that extradition issues were under the jurisdiction of the prosecutor's office, and not the Investigative Committee.

On November 27, 2009, when the Nevsky Express branded high-speed train was blown up, Alexander Bastrykin went to the scene of the attack. At that moment, another explosive device went off at the scene. The head of the Investigative Committee received a concussion and a moderate wound, the news reported.

In 2010, Alexander Bastrykin led the investigation into the mass murder in the village of Kushchevskaya, Krasnodar Territory.

In the photo: Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation, during a meeting with residents of the village of Kushchevskaya, 2010 (Photo: Valery Matytsin / TASS)

In 2014, the head of the Investigative Committee initiated a criminal prosecution of Ukrainian officials accused of war crimes and genocide against the civilian population of southeastern Ukraine.

“None of them will escape responsibility. We will get them even at the bottom of the ocean, and sooner or later they will bear moral, political, and criminal responsibility for the acts that they commit today against the peoples of Ukraine,” said Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, speaking at a meeting of the fund “ Generals and naval commanders" on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of the marshal Fyodor Ivanovich Tolbukhin.

In the photo: Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Alexander Bastrykin (center) at the Moscow school No. 263, which was captured by an armed man, 2014 (Photo: Artem Geodakyan / TASS)

On September 8, 2015, in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Alexander Bastrykin was surprised by the news that the department he heads has information about the participation of the Prime Minister of Ukraine (at that time) Arseniy Yatsenyuk in the First Chechen War.

“Arseniy Yatsenyuk participated in at least two armed clashes that took place on December 31, 1994 on Minutka Square in the city of Grozny and in February 1995 in the area of ​​the city hospital No. 9 in the city of Grozny,” Bastrykin claimed. “And also in the torture and execution of captured Russian army soldiers in the Oktyabrsky district of the city of Grozny on January 7, 1995.”

Bastrykin also stated that, according to the Russian Investigative Committee, Yatsenyuk fought in Chechnya as part of the Argo punitive detachment, and then Viking under the leadership of Alexandra Muzychko.

“The interrogated associates of Yatsenyuk characterize him as an educated, intelligent person, but at the same time cunning and dodgy, as they say, from an early age striving for power and publicity,” Bastrykin summed up.

In the photo: Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Alexander Bastrykin at a meeting of the board of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, 2015 (Photo: Mikhail Klimentyev / Press Service of the President of the Russian Federation / TASS)

In 2016 the President of Russia Vladimir Putin awarded the head of the ICR, Alexander Bastrykin, the highest rank, provided for by the law "On the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation" - General of Justice of the Russian Federation.

In 2017, the head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Alexander Bastrykin told the recipe for fighting corruption in Russia. “Until we resolve the issue of introducing into the legislation a full-fledged form of confiscation of property, not only stolen or transferred to relatives, but real compensation for damage in the amount in which it was caused by the criminal, we will not be able to achieve a real turning point in the fight against corruption and theft, especially state funds, ”Bastrykin was quoted in the news. In the same year, the Head of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin expressed his attitude towards the death penalty in our country.

In 2018, a fire broke out in the Zimnyaya Cherry shopping center. Alexander Bastrykin said that at one time a high-ranking official interfered with the inspection of the Kemerovo shopping center "Winter Cherry". “In 2016, there was an attempt to check this center, and the check was not carried out, because a high-ranking official intervened in the process, but we do not name his position yet,” Bastrykin was quoted by the media. As a result, the examination was never carried out.

In the photo: Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Alexander Bastrykin (second from left), who arrived in Kemerovo in connection with the investigation of criminal cases related to the death of people in a fire in the Winter Cherry shopping and entertainment center, during a conversation with local residents, 2018 ( Photo: Danil Aikin / TASS)

It is reported that investigators found documents and an act of incomplete verification. It is there that the name of the official who came to the shopping center is indicated.

In addition, the investigators confirmed that the door handles of the emergency exit from the cinema hall, in which many people died, were closed by the visitors themselves. According to investigators, the doors were closed after seeing a wall of black smoke. It is also reported that people in the cinema took off their clothes and plugged the cracks so that the smoke would not enter inside.

In the summer of 2018, Bastrykin said that a large group of experienced investigators and forensic specialists from the central office of the Investigative Committee were dealing with the case, and expressed confidence that they would be able to thoroughly understand all the details. The head of the ICR said that there were 11 people among the defendants in the criminal case, including the former head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia for the Kemerovo Region Alexander Mamontov.

The staff of investigators, both in the central office and in the territorial investigative bodies of the Investigative Committee, will be increased, - said the head of the department Alexander Bastrykin.

According to him, the number of investigators under the chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation will increase, the staff of the Main Investigation Department will increase: “Given that the specifics of investigative work in the central office involves frequent business trips, and sometimes investigators are around the clock at the workplace, issues of further material support for their activities are being worked out, as well as issues of social support for investigators and their families,” he said in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

In the photo: Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Director of the Federal Service of the National Guard Troops - Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard Troops of the Russian Federation Viktor Zolotov, Director of the Federal Security Service (FSO) Dmitry Kochnev, Head of the Russian Emergencies Ministry Evgeny Zinichev and Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Alexander Bastrykin (from left to right) ) at a meeting of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee, 2018 (Photo: Musa Salgereev / TASS)

At the same time, the head of the TFR noted that all changes will be made "within the existing staffing, that is, we are not talking about increasing the staff of the Investigative Committee."

In 2018, Alexander Bastrykin stated that in the future, improving the efficiency of the units will be associated with a complete transition to Russian forensic technology.

In 2019, the Chairman of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, instructed to organize the work of a dedicated telephone line in the near future, to which it would be possible to report facts of pressure on business.

Literary career of Alexander Bastrykin

Despite the workload, Alexander Ivanovich was successfully engaged in scientific and literary activities. He is the author of more than 150 scientific papers, has written books: “Shadows disappear in Smolny. Murder Kirov”, “The ideal crime of the century or the collapse of the criminal case”, “The murder of Kirov A new version of the old crime”. Alexander Bastrykin put forward his own version of the murder of Sergei Kirov, which occurred in 1934.

One of the famous books by Alexander Bastrykin “Dactyloscopy. Hand Signs (2004). However, for this book the writer was accused of plagiarism. The book found significant borrowings from the well-known work Jurgen Thorwald"Age of Criminalistics". Nevertheless, Bastrykin's book was translated into French, and in 2016 he became a member of the Writers' Union. Bastrykin himself does not agree with the accusation, since in his book there is a reference to the work of Jurgen Thorwald.

There was information in the news that Alexander Ivanovich writes poetry and publishes them on the Poetry.ru website, posing as the Polish poet Stanislav Strunevsky. The poems are written in an ironic style.

In an interview, the General of Justice said that he published some books at his own expense.

Income of Alexander Bastrykin

The income of the head of the TFR Alexander Bastrykin in 2017 amounted to 16.5 million rubles. This amount also included the recalculation for 2014-2016, which amounted to 5.45 million rubles.

In the photo: Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Russian Investigative Committee (center) (Photo: Mikhail Metzel/TASS)

According to the declaration, the head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation owns an apartment with an area of ​​​​224.4 square meters, as well as two summer cottages with an area of ​​\u200b\u200b294.3 and 138.5 square meters. The wife of Alexander Bastrykin earned 4.64 million rubles in 2017.

For 2016, Bastrykin indicated an income of 8.4 million rubles in the declaration.

Scandals around Alexander Bastrykin

In 2012 Alexey Navalny accused Bastrykin of having real estate in the Czech Republic, that Alexander Bastrykin is a co-owner of LAW Bohemia and has a residence permit in the Czech Republic. Information about this is published in Bastrykin's biography on Wikipedia.

Bastrykin admitted only the presence of a visa and an apartment in Prague with an area of ​​46 sq.m. The head of the UK said that he purchased the property worth $68,000 in installments before starting his civil service. Bastrykin sold his share in LAW Bohemia, according to the biography of the head of the UK on the site "Learn everything."

“In order to dispel all sorts of rumors once and for all, I declare officially that neither I nor my family members have ever been engaged in entrepreneurial activities either in Russia or abroad. The information disseminated in the media does not correspond to reality, but, in other words, is a gross lie and misleading,” said Alexander Ivanovich.

Bastrykin was included in the sanctions list by the Ukrainian authorities for initiating the initiation of criminal cases against high-ranking officials of Ukraine and military personnel of the Ukrainian army. Alexander Ivanovich is also included in the sanctions lists of Ukraine in the case Hope Savchenko convicted by a Russian court. On April 12, 2016, Lithuania announced the inclusion of Bastrykin in the sanctions list of persons who are prohibited from entering Lithuania in connection with the conviction of Savchenko by a Russian court.

In 2017, the US Department of the Treasury expanded the so-called "list Magnitsky”, including the head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Alexander Bastrykin.

Personal life of Alexander Bastrykin

First wife - Bastrykina Natalia Nikolaevna- advocate. Alexander was married to Natalya from 1981 to 1988.

Second wife - Olga Ivanovna Alexandrova- candidate of legal sciences. According to information for 2013 - Vice-Rector for educational work of the Russian Law Academy of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, before that she was the director of the branch of the Academy in St. Petersburg. There are two children in the Bastrykin family.

Bastrykin Alexander Ivanovich(born August 27, 1953, Pskov, RSFSR, USSR) - Soviet and Russian lawyer, legal scholar, public and statesman. Doctor of Law, Professor. Honored Lawyer of the Russian Federation. Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, State Councilor of Justice 1st class, General of Justice of the Russian Federation (since February 20, 2016).

In 1975 he graduated from the Faculty of Law of the Leningrad State University (LGU), studied in the same group with Vladimir Putin and served as the head of this group. Subsequently, Bastrykin entered the closest circle of Putin's associates, where he received the informal nickname "Starosta".

In 1992-1995 he was rector and professor at the St. Petersburg Law Institute.

In 1995 - Head of the Department and Professor of the Department of Transport Law of the St. Petersburg State University of Water Communications.

In 1996-1998, he was assistant to the commander of the district troops for legal work - head of the legal department of the North-Western district of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. At the same time, he taught at the St. Petersburg Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation and the St. Petersburg School of Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.

In 1998-2001 - Director of the North-Western Branch of the Russian Law Academy of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Academic Council, Head of the Department of Theory of State and Law of the Academy.

In 2001-2006, he headed the main department of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation for the North-Western Federal District, continuing his teaching work at the Russian Law Academy.

From June 12 to October 6, 2006 - Head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for the Central Federal District.

On October 6, 2006, at a meeting of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, Bastrykin was approved as Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation.

On June 22, 2007, at a meeting of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, Bastrykin was approved as First Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation - Chairman of the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation. Since October 4, 2010, he has been acting, and since January 15, 2011, he has been appointed Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation.

In 2007, Bastrykin was publicly accused by the Ukrainian scientist, teacher of the Tauride National University Vladimir Chisnikov that in his work “Dactyloscopy. Hand Signs” contains borrowings from the book “The Age of Criminalistics” by the German writer Jürgen Thorwald without being indicated in the list of references.

On January 9, 2017, the United States added Alexander Bastrykin to the Magnitsky List. On February 21, 2017, the House of Commons of Great Britain adopted a special law - an analogue of the American sanctions "Magnitsky Law", which, along with other Russian citizens, included Bastrykin. Bastrykin was included in the sanctions list by the Ukrainian authorities for initiating the initiation of criminal cases against high-ranking officials of Ukraine and military personnel of the Ukrainian army.

Alexander Bastrykin is married for the second time to Olga Alexandrova (candidate of legal sciences, associate professor, rector of the All-Russian University of Justice (RPA) of the Ministry of Justice of Russia). The married couple is raising two children.

Alexander Ivanovich Bastrykin - Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, General of Justice, legal scholar, Doctor of Law.

Childhood

Alexander Bastrykin was born on August 27, 1953 in Pskov. The ordinary working family, in which the future head of the Investigative Committee was born, had, however, a heroic history.

Alexander Bastrykin's father fought on the fronts of the Soviet-Finnish and Great Patriotic Wars, was awarded medals "For Military Merit", "For the Defense of the Soviet Arctic", "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."


During the siege of Leningrad, my mother worked at a defense plant, and in 1943 she went to the front, where she became an anti-aircraft gunner, went through a combat path from Leningrad to Koenigsberg, participated in the most difficult battles, for which she was presented with military awards.

The Bastrykins lived in Pskov until 1958, and then moved to Leningrad. In the northern capital, Sasha went to school with an in-depth study of the humanities and managed not only to study very well. The range of his interests was very wide: classical dance, volleyball, playing the guitar, visiting a theater studio and a school for a young journalist at the youth newspaper Smena.

Education

In 1970, Alexander Bastrykin became a student at Leningrad State University. It is worth noting that the competition for the Faculty of Law was 40 people per place, and Alexander entered on a general basis.


At Leningrad State University, he became the head of the group. His classmate was Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. The young people became friends.

In 1975, the future head of the UK received a diploma and distribution to the police, but two years later he returned to his native university as a graduate student.


In 1980, Bastrykin successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis on the investigation of criminal cases involving foreign citizens.

Career

Alexander Bastrykin's career began in the bodies of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, where he worked as an investigator and inspector of the criminal investigation department. In the militia, the future head of the Investigative Committee joined the CPSU and remained a member of the party until its complete ban, i.e. until 1991.


After defending his Ph.D. thesis, Bastrykin taught at the Department of Criminal Procedure and Criminalistics of his native university. At the same time, he made a successful career in the Komsomol organization, having gone from the secretary of the Komsomol committee of the Leningrad University to the secretary of the Leningrad regional committee of the Komsomol. Like most successful Komsomol functionaries, Bastrykin's activities continued in the party: from 1986 to 1988. he was in charge of ideological work in the party committee of Leningrad State University.

It is noteworthy that information about the direct participation of Alexander Bastrykin in the exclusion from the ranks of the Komsomol Boris Grebenshchikov became public knowledge, although Grebenshchikov himself did not confirm this.

In 1987, Alexander Bastrykin became a doctor of sciences, and in 1988 he received the post of director of the Institute for Advanced Training of Investigative Workers at the USSR Prosecutor's Office in Leningrad, which he held until 1991.


From 1992 to 1995, Bastrykin was the rector and professor of the St. Petersburg Law Institute, in 1995 he headed the Department of Transport Law at the University of Water Communications.

In 1996-1998, the Chief Investigator of the Russian Federation was Deputy Commander of the North-Western District Troops for Legal Affairs, and then headed the North-Western Branch of the Russian Academy of Law.


In 2001, Bastrykin moved to work in the Ministry of Justice, and in 2006 - in the main department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where, as Deputy Prosecutor General, he oversaw issues of compliance with the legality of the preliminary investigation. The position of Prosecutor General at that time was held by Yuri Chaika and, thus, was Bastrykin's immediate superior.

In 2007, an Investigative Committee was created within the prosecutor's office. The order to transfer 18 thousand employees from the prosecutor's office to the Investigative Committee was personally signed by Bastrykin, as acting head of the committee. The new structure, independent and controlled by the President of the Russian Federation, was entrusted with the direct investigation of crimes.


Bastrykin was appointed Chairman of the Investigative Committee as an independent structure on January 15, 2011. I must say that the head of the Investigative Committee held personal receptions of citizens every month.


Earlier, in 2008, the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for Combating Corruption was created, which included Alexander Bastrykin.

The most high-profile cases of Alexander Bastrykin

In February 2008, regional prosecutor Yevgeny Grigoriev was killed in Saratov. Alexander Bastrykin personally led the investigation, which ended within three weeks. The case was opened.


In 2008, the investigation group of the Investigative Committee conducted an investigation into the so-called five-day war - Georgia's armed aggression against South Ossetia. The work of the group, which resulted in 500 volumes of the criminal case, was headed by Alexander Bastrykin. The case was referred to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

In 2009, the head of the UK sharply criticized Russia's migration policy, leading to an increase in crime among migrants, and a high level of corruption in the Federal Migration Service. It is worth noting that extradition issues were under the jurisdiction of the prosecutor's office, and not the Investigative Committee.


In 2010, a mass murder took place in the village of Kushchevskaya in the Krasnodar Territory, which received a huge public outcry. The investigation was headed by Alexander Bastrykin.

In 2014, the head of the Investigative Committee initiated a criminal prosecution of Ukrainian officials accused of war crimes and genocide against the civilian population of southeastern Ukraine.

Injury in the line of duty

On November 27, 2009, the Nevsky Express branded high-speed train was blown up, as a result of which 28 people were killed and 132 passengers were injured. Alexander Bastrykin personally went to the site of the attack. While he was at the scene, another explosive device went off. The head of the Investigative Committee received a concussion and a moderate wound.


Books by Bastrykin

Despite being extremely busy and having a successful career, Alexander Bastrykin always found time for scientific work and writing books.


In three books by Professor Bastrykin: “Shadows disappear in Smolny. The Murder of Kirov”, “The Ideal Crime of the Century or the Collapse of the Criminal Case”, “The Murder of Kirov. A new version of an old crime" the author put forward his own version of the events that took place in Leningrad in 1934.

Bastrykin's most famous book is Fingerprinting. Signs of the hand” was released in 2004. It was with this edition that the scandal was connected: the writer was accused of plagiarism.

Experts found fragments borrowed from Jurgen Thorwald's book "Age of Forensic Science". It is worth noting that Bastrykin reflected the aforementioned work in the list of used literature, so he denied the accusations, calling them false. Later, Bastrykin's "Dactyloscopy" was translated into French, and the professor himself was admitted to the Writers' Union in 2016.


In an interview, the General of Justice said that he published some books at his own expense.

Scandals associated with Alexander Bastrykin

In 2012, Alexei Navalny accused the chairman of the Investigative Committee that Bastrykin owns real estate in the Czech Republic, is a co-owner of LAW Bohemia and has a residence permit in the Czech Republic.

Alexei Navalny about Bastrykin

Bastrykin admitted only the presence of a visa and an apartment in Prague with an area of ​​46 sq.m. The head of the UK said that the property worth $68,000 was purchased by him in installments before the start of the civil service. Bastrykin sold his stake in LAW Bohemia.

Personal life of Alexander Bastrykin

Alexander Bastrykin is married. His wife, Olga Ivanovna Bastrykina, is a Vice-Rector of the Russian Academy of Law. The son of the head of the Investigative Committee, Evgeny, born in 1986, is the chief specialist of the Office of the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for the North-West.


Head of the UK now

Bastrykin combines work in the Investigative Committee with writing books, actively uses social networks, maintains a VKontakte account, where he writes about the events of the Investigative Committee, about cultural life and famous people. The professor willingly speaks to students of law schools with lectures.

There is information that Bastrykin writes poetry and publishes it on the Poetry.ru website, posing as the Polish poet Stanislav Strunevsky. The main theme of the poetic work of the chief investigator of Russia is the activity of liberal politicians, presented by Bastrykin in an ironic manner.

Again Navalny sat down for a day / And our poor minds / They knew bitterness and sadness / After all, he is our symbol! Ours is steel!

Alexander Khinshtein

Who is Alexander Ivanovich Bastrykin?

The chairman of the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office - some will say.

Putin's classmate - others will answer.

All of them will be right. But not to the end. Because no one knows the true face of Alexander Bastrykin; including, I'm afraid, even his former classmate.

In addition to all his other virtues and ranks, the chairman of the UPC has one more thing - the talent of a merchant.

This is not a journalistic allegory at all, but the most medical fact, confirmed in addition by official documents.

The chief investigator of the country, who has been secretly running his own business in Central Europe for many years; such a thing will not be dreamed, it seems, even in a terrible dream ...

In the official biography of Alexander Bastrykin, there is nothing outwardly that would be conducive to doing business. He never worked in the supply chain. Government orders were not distributed. He was not involved in oil and gas.

All life is like a continuous Criminal Code; militia, prosecutor's office, science, justice. But this is only the first, deceptive impression ...

... The Troja district in the north of the Czech capital met me with green grass and the glow of tiled roofs. Birds sang.

“One of the most prestigious and greenest districts of Prague,” the guide says about Troy. - Most of the parks are occupied: Stromovka - the oldest, most beautiful Prague park; Troy Park adjacent to Troy Castle; zoo and botanical garden.

Back in the 17th century, Troy was chosen by the royal dynasty. From those years, the Prague residents were left with the royal castle in the early Baroque style - now it houses an art museum - and dozens of luxurious mansions; once the Czech nobility preferred to settle in them.

Today, as in ancient times, Troy is back in fashion. Living here is honorable and prestigious; like a city, and no longer a city: parks, greenery, a river. It is not surprising that Alexander Bastrykin also liked this area.

…That's the street I need. Knezdenska, 767/2c, - reads a sign on a multi-story multi-colored tower, built already in the era of capitalism. It is here, according to the documents, that the office of the company “LAW Bohemia” is located.

True, there are no identification marks on the house. At the entrance hang only signs with the names of the residents; "LAW Bohemia" is not among them. None of the neighbors I interviewed had heard of such a company either. And yet it is right here; just for some reason, its owners are in no hurry to advertise their activities.

Russians? Yes, there are some kind of visits, - the middle-aged lady coming out of the entrance draws out uncertainly; she takes the child for a walk in the yard (graveled paths, neatly trimmed lawns) and is clearly not in the mood for conversations ...

... Alexander Bastrykin has a peculiar sense of humor. “LAW Bohemia” means “Bohemian Law” in translation. This office, however, has nothing to do with jurisprudence; as follows from the founding documents, the subject of its activity is real estate transactions; In other words, real estate.

I don't know if the Czech (including the Bohemian) right allows its officials to engage in commerce; in Russian legislation there are no two opinions on this matter.

If someone else had been in Bastrykin's place - the director of the theater, for example, or the head of the boat station - he could still make a reservation about his legal illiteracy. But for the chief investigator of the country, a professional jurist, a doctor of sciences who has devoted his whole life to jurisprudence, such common truths seem so obvious that they do not even require explanation.

However, to the point.

The company "LAW Bohemia" was established in Prague on March 1, 2000. The form of organization is a limited liability company. Type of activity, as already mentioned, real estate transactions. The authorized capital is 100 thousand Czech crowns (4 thousand euros).

All this information can be easily obtained in the commercial register of the Prague City Court - an analogue of our registration service; in the Czech Republic, information about commercial firms is open; it is given to anyone who wants it.

This one, taken by me, also contains information about the owners of “LAW Bohemia”. There are only two of them:

Alexander Bastrykin, 08/27/1953 year of birth, St. Petersburg, st. Galernaya, 26, kv.№№, Russian Federation. Contribution to the authorized capital - 50 thousand kroons. Ownership share - 50%.

Olga Alexandrova, 03/28/1970 year of birth. The address, the amount of the contribution and the shares are the same.

Both the date of birth and the home address - everything coincides with the personal data of the chairman of the UPC; It wasn't hard to check it out. As for the second founder of the company, there are no questions here either: Olga Ivanovna Alexandrova is the legal wife of the chairman of the UPC, the mother of his two children and, as it turns out now, a partner.

However, when "LAW Bohemia" was just created, there was nothing reprehensible in that; in March 2000, Bastrykin was still head of the North-Western branch of the Russian Law Academy of the Ministry of Justice and was not a civil servant. By law, he could establish any commercial structures; The main thing is to submit declarations on time.

And therefore, with a light heart, Bastrykin, having organized “LAW Bohemia”, simultaneously became its director; so as not to share with anyone, apparently.

In July 2001, however, he was appointed acting. Head of the Federal Department of the Ministry of Justice for the Northwestern Federal District. From that day on, Bastrykin, obeying the law “On Civil Service”, was obliged to immediately resign as director of “LAW Bohemia” and withdraw from the founders. This procedure is not complicated at all, thousands of people have passed through it; transfer your share to the wife-companion, and that's the end of it.

But for some reason he doesn't. The necessary changes will be made to the register of the Prague Commercial Court only in March 2003. The chairman of the UPC has not said goodbye to the foundation to this day; despite the fact that he managed to work both as the head of the head office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Central Federal District and as deputy prosecutor general, now he is at all - he heads the most powerful department.

The official extract I received (as of May 2008) states that Alexander Bastrykin is still the owner of a 50% stake in LAW Bohemia. In accordance with Czech law, this means that he owns not only half of the company, but also half of its entire property. In the event of the liquidation of LAW Bohemia, Bastrykin and his wife will automatically receive all the property of the company.

In particular, housing in house No. 767/2s on Knezdenska Street. In this mysterious house, I counted at least three apartments associated with "LAW Bohemia". One of them has its legal address registered. The second is the full property of the company (read - the Bastrykin family). The third belongs to the son of their business partner, 22-year-old Georgy Shutenko. (His father, Igor Shutenko, is today the director of LAW Bohemia in place of Bastrykin.)

In a word, there is where to roam. Prices for Prague real estate are growing by leaps and bounds. In this area, they are among the most expensive: 2.5-3 thousand euros per square meter. (One of the residents of the “Bastrykino” house confessed to me, for example, that he bought his 80-meter apartment for 5.3 million crowns - in terms of about 210 thousand euros.)

But there are also houses where “LAW Bohemia” was registered before. Until 2003, its legal address was located in the fashionable town of Kladno, 15 kilometers from Prague (Jizni Street, 2942). Then two years - in the suburban area Tukhomiritsa. Only in 2005 “LAW Bohemia” finally moved to Troy, to Knezdenska.

It is clear that such an economy needs an eye and an eye. Probably for this reason Bastrykin flew until recently to the Czech Republic with an enviable frequency. His last visit was noted in December last year, that is, already when he was chairman of the UPC.

The most striking thing is that at the same time, Alexander Ivanovich also managed to get himself a ... two-year business visa. It was issued by the Czech police on February 6 last year (No. FA 0436991) and is still valid. Moreover, it is affixed in ... his service passport (62 No. 2739038).

Who does not know: a business visa is a document that gives the right to engage in commercial activities in the host country. To get it, you need a very serious justification.

I bet you will never guess what wording the Deputy Prosecutor General wrote in his visa application (Bastrykin was then in this position). “Execution of managerial functions” is inscribed in black and white on his papers. (All of them, by the way, are stored in the Czech police department for work with foreigners.)

These documents also contain a notarized invitation issued to Bastrykin by Georgy Shutenko, the son of the director of LAW Bohemia; he guaranteed that he would put him in his apartment at the address already known to us: Prague-8, Troy, Knezdenska, 767/2s.

(I doubt, however, that Alexander Ivanovich would need to take advantage of his hospitality; everything is in order with a roof over his head.)

Frankly, I tried to track down Shutenko's father and son in order to understand what connects them with the chief Russian investigator. Alas, my search was in vain.

As a result, we managed to learn a little about them. Both of them are natives of Ashgabat. In 1993, they received Russian citizenship. Officially, the Shutenko family is registered in the remote village of Seltsovo, Pochinkovsky district, Smolensk region, where, of course, no one has ever seen them. In parallel, in the mid-1990s, Shutenko Sr. was registered in Ukraine (Kyiv, Garina St., 51). Apparently, they live permanently in the Czech Republic. They are co-founders of a number of local commercial structures.

Where their paths crossed with Bastrykin - only God knows. But, apparently, each of the parties does not regret the acquaintance; They have been together for five long years.

After all, even if you are at least three times a professor and a doctor of sciences, you still cannot do without quick and tortuous cosmopolitan partners; especially if you live in Russia and do business in the Czech Republic…

Most recently, the leadership of the UPC announced that the employees of this department "became the object of the activities of Western intelligence services and terrorist organizations." Simply put, foreign spies and saboteurs are trying to recruit honest Russian investigators.

Holy simplicity! Why fuss, look for approaches to ordinary investigators, solder them, build multi-way combinations, when under your nose - you just have to stretch out your hand - here it is, the desired goal.
The head of a law enforcement agency, the highest-level secret carrier, secretly doing business in a foreign country - yes, no self-respecting intelligence agency will miss such an amazing recruitment opportunity.

I have no doubt that the Czech counterintelligence has long been interested in the activities of the modest office "LAW Bohemia"; and how else, if a business visa is pasted into the general's official passport.

The Czech Republic has always been an invisible field of spy wars; its geopolitical position is the best way to do this. Only before the Czech special services worked under the supervision of older brothers from the KGB, and today the vacant place was taken by “partners” from the CIA.

This is especially true now that the construction of an American radar station, the largest electronic intelligence center in Europe, aimed at Russia, has begun at the Brda military training ground.

However, let him better understand these secret intricacies of the FSB. Let's turn to the legal side.
Remaining among the co-founders of the Czech company, the chairman of the UPC, like no one else, could not help but understand that he was grossly violating several laws at once.

First, the laws on the prosecutor's office and on the civil service, which strictly forbid officials to be owners of commercial structures.

Secondly, the tax code: after all, Bastrykin prudently does not indicate income from the activities of “LAW Bohemia” in his declarations, thus concealing them from taxes.

Thirdly, the law on state secrets, which prohibits secret carriers from traveling abroad without hindrance. Each voyage to the Czech Republic Bastrykin was obliged to issue an official report addressed to his leader; and not just formalize, but also justify the purpose of the trip. Naturally, he never wrote such documents; and what could he explain? What travels to another country to “perform managerial functions” with a service passport in his pocket?

Each of these violations is quite enough for the instant dismissal of Bastrykin, and even for the initiation of a criminal case. But…

Who will check it? Attorney General? He has no power over the chairman of the UPC, although he is his first deputy. The president? He is not a procedural person.

Moreover, no one can even initiate cases against Bastrykin, except ... Bastrykin himself. And this is the key to understanding everything that is happening.

There is no doubt: there are no angels among the current powers that be; salt is odorless. But everything has its limits, the rules of decency after all.

How can you make beautiful speeches about the rule of law, declare a crusade against crime, initiate criminal cases yourself and at the same time - quietly ride across the cordon, inspecting your own “candle factory”? This is not just a violation of the law, it is a complete discrediting of it. After this, who will believe in the honesty and integrity of the Investigative Committee, if its chairman sells real estate abroad in his free time?

And after all, nothing prevented Bastrykin from doing the same without showing his own ears. I would have issued “LAW Bohemia” for my wife or for the same cosmopolitans Shutenko and lived quietly, without secret voyages, entrepreneurial visas. No.

Why. What is the reason?

Greed? I doubt it too. What difference does it make who the business is registered for - for you or your wife.

The feeling of complete impunity is perhaps the most accurate answer. Absolute permissiveness, when it seems that you have already grabbed God by the beard, any knee-deep sea and the law is you yourself.

More than one dignitary has stumbled on such orange peels: remember, for example, the high-profile Mabetex case, when Russian officials openly opened Swiss bank accounts in their own names.

I had a chance to write about another story almost similar to Bastrykin's - about the adventures of Vladimir Simonov, director general of the Agency for Control Systems, who also, having come to the civil service, “forgot” to leave the founders of Czech companies.

The career of such people ended, as a rule, bleakly: they were quietly sent into retirement or into honorable exile. And not because the authorities were being purged of those who discredited it, rather, the hardware instinct of self-preservation worked: anything can be expected from such subjects.

I do not know how the facts I have made public will affect the further fate of the Chairman of the UPC. Alexander Bastrykin enjoys the open support of many state leaders; again - the law faculty of Leningrad State University. That is why he behaves so confidently, and the whole series of scandals that constantly shake the Investigative Committee ends painlessly for him.

However, it is unlikely that both the President and the Prime Minister (not to mention the Secretary of the Security Council with the director of the FSB) were aware of the second, secret life of their colleague until today; and even more so - it is unlikely to cause them great delight.

In the end, everything - even old student friendships - must have some limits ...

Moscow-Prague-Moscow.