“The man seemed to have completely disappeared”

How easy it is to get into Lefortovo under an article about treason and how difficult it is to get out of there

This text is about how Tomsk physicist Alexander Lukanin, having found himself retired, became of no use to anyone with his developments, went into depression, got a job at a brewery and started drinking. But then he was offered to go to China for part-time work and do science there. The scientist perked up, but one day, returning from a business trip to Russia, he was stuck here because of the coronavirus. For six months, the physicist tried to find a normal employer, but by the fall he was found by investigators from the FSB. They accused the scientist of treason and sent him to the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center. Lukanin’s few friends donated money to a Moscow lawyer, who undertook to get the physicist out of prison. But if everything were so simple, then I would not have written this big story about how a lawyer stormed Lefortovo for several months and how investigators with jailers on the other side came up with the most incredible ways to leave the physicist in a pre-trial detention center.

Here you can listen to the soundtrack I wrote to

“This is an ordinary person and there is no one to stand up for him”

Information about the detention of Tomsk physicist Alexander Lukanin first appeared in a local telegram channel on September 30. It was reported there that the scientist was suspected of disclosing state secrets. The attached photograph showed an elderly, balding man. An unfashionable camouflage vest with pockets like Wasserman's, faded jeans, an incomprehensible lilac fountain in the background - it doesn't look like a spy at all.

Lukanin’s biography, given in a short post, turned out to be just as boring. “I worked at Tomsk Polytechnic University. Later he got a job at the Institute of Strength Physics and Materials Science of the SB RAS, where he worked as a senior technician in the laboratory of coating methods. Among his scientific interests: power supplies for particle accelerators and gas-discharge devices, electronic devices for measuring charges and ultra-weak fluxes of electromagnetic radiation in nuclear physics.” Apart from the mention of the “peaceful atom”, there was nothing that could interest the intelligence services.

Nikolai Krivopalov, a close friend of the physicist since his student days, says that he was very surprised when he learned about what happened - after all, Lukanin, as far as he knows, “never had access to state secrets and was not involved in the defense industry either.” “The current husband of his ex-wife calls me and says that this is the case: Lukanin was arrested by the FSB. And his wife was brought in during the search, since the apartment was registered in her name,” recalls Krivopalov. - He was shocked. I tried to contact my wife - she was also in shock and did not want to talk to anyone. They took some kind of non-disclosure agreement from her and now she’s shying away from everyone.” Krivopalov immediately began to “raise” Lukanin’s acquaintances and call his relatives.

“There was no answer from all the friends we managed to find on Facebook and Odnoklassniki. His friends, as I understand it, are his colleagues,” says Valentina Moiseeva. She, too, was friends with Lukanin back in college, but over the years, most of her classmates moved away and became confused. “Okay, he would really be a high-flying bird, but he is an ordinary person and, by and large, there is no one to stand up for him,” Moiseeva worries. Her words are indirectly confirmed by the list of 24 friends of the user “Sasha Lukanin” on Facebook: most of them are in one way or another connected with Tomsk universities.

Alexander Lukanin has indeed been a lonely, private person in recent years, his sister Marina Lukanina confirms. After divorcing his wife and moving his daughter to Germany, the physicist lived alone. “When I called the local investigator, he was very surprised that Sasha has close relatives,” says the woman. However, she doesn’t really believe in such ignorance of the special services: “Maybe the Tomsk FSB officers didn’t know [about the family]. But I thought that today it is a very convenient position - not to know about the existence of close relatives.”

“When he worked in Korea, his eyes sparkled.”

Lukanina says that her brother was immersed in work and scientific research all his life: “He can sit in the laboratory for hours. This is part of his soul. Just as a musician cannot help but play, so a true scientist cannot live without normal work, without introducing his ideas.” According to her, retirement “crushed” the physicist.

“I would say that he eked out a miserable existence, and did not live. A small salary from part-time jobs is either there or not. Things weren’t going very well for him with alcohol,” recalls Lukanina. - He developed an addiction. As I understand it, when oblivion set in, when he was no longer needed, he became depressed.”

The fact that Lukanin encountered difficulties in retirement is confirmed by Nikolai Krivopalov. According to him, the physicist’s pension was minimal - and he was always looking for part-time work: “I worked at some factories that bottle water, at beer factories - I developed and assembled ozonizers for them. This is how he lived until the Chinese came to him.”

Krivopalov claims that Lukanin was familiar “with Chinese colleagues” from the time he worked at the Tomsk Research Institute. They came to the institute along with scientists from South Korea. Marina Lukanina says that both of them were interested in the developments and scientific publications of her brother. According to her, at some point they invited a physicist to work in South Korea. Lukanin agreed. “When he worked in Korea, his eyes sparkled. A person was perceived and assessed as much as he was truly valuable. When he started working in Korea, he even walked somehow easier. His gait became different, his look became different. He was then offered Korean citizenship and asked to move. But he said how he would leave his homeland. He’s also a patriot,” says Marina Lukanina.

After his experience in South Korea, Lukanin was scammed by a Chinese company. In 2014, he posted a photo in front of the plant of the metallurgical company Liaoning Brilliant Metallurgy Technology - one can assume that the physicist worked there. The next photo shows him with two Chinese men and a man of European appearance in a cafe. There are panels with hieroglyphs on the walls, and Chinese beer on the table. Under the photo there is a comment: “It was in Shenyang, and these are friends!” Shenyang is a major industrial and metallurgical center. It also houses Shenyang University, where, according to Lukanin’s friends, he lectured.

Nikolai Krivopalov says that the new job and demand greatly inspired his friend. In recent years, Lukanin regularly went on business trips to China, sometimes for several months. Krivopalov doesn’t remember when it started, but in 2017, a post about a flight to Beijing appeared on the “Sasha Lukanin” page. In 2019, Alexander Lukanin wrote on Vkontakte that he was flying to China for a month. The physicist complained that due to his departure he would have to miss the paid training “From dreams to results. Technique for making wishes come true."

“Unknown persons who introduced themselves as FSB officers”

In December 2019, Lukanin returned to Russia. He was going back only after the Chinese New Year. As Krivopalov recalls, his friend explained: “While in China everyone is drinking, partying, celebrating, there’s still nothing to do there.” “I talked to him once - why doesn’t he get a normal work visa, why won’t he stay there...,” recalls Nikolai. — He said that he did not like their culture and their mentality was alien. Nevertheless, he intended to continue going there. But here is quarantine. And then this arrest happened on September 29.”

The very next day Krivopalov and his comrades tried to find their friend. Having separated, they went and called all authorities. Meanwhile, the story with the “Tomsk physicist” reached the level of the federal media , so Lukanin’s acquaintances gave comments to journalists, and a few close friends consulted on what to do. “At that time we didn’t even know where Lukanin was, because the local FSB told us that they didn’t have him. And in the pre-trial detention center they also told us that he was not there. The man seemed to have completely disappeared,” recalls Krivopalov, adding that journalists advised him to contact Moscow lawyer Dmitry Myltsyn.

Dmitry Myltsyn himself did not know where to look for the missing Alexander Lukanin, but he assumed that if we are talking about high treason, then it cannot be done without the participation of the special services. Therefore, first of all, Myltsyn wrote an appeal to the FSB. “Unknown persons who introduced themselves as employees of the FSB of Russia reported that a search was being carried out as part of a criminal case, seized computers, and also reported that Alexander Aleksandrovich Lukanin was detained,” Myltsyn recounted the words of Lukanin’s ex-wife, who, due to a non-disclosure agreement, cannot communicate on this topic with anyone except a lawyer.

It also said that four days had passed since Lukanin’s arrest, but he still had not made contact - despite the telephone call he was entitled to and the investigators’ obligation to hand over the search report to the owner of the apartment. Lawyer Dmitry Myltsyn “All these violations are significant, grossly violate the rights and legitimate interests of Lukanin, guaranteed by the Constitution and the criminal procedure law, and violate his right to defense,” Myltsyn wrote in the complaints. He demanded that an investigation be carried out and “take measures regarding the kidnapping of Lukanin by unknown persons... and if he is found, report his whereabouts.” There was nothing concrete in the FSB's responses. The only thing they gave the lawyer was confirmation that the FSB was involved in the case.

"We got to the wrong place"

It is surprising that, against the backdrop of all the inquiries and searches, on September 30 a court hearing was held in Tomsk with the participation of Lukanin. In any case, the lawyer was informed about this - but only on October 24. “Lukanin is suspected of high treason committed in Tomsk between 2018 and 2020,” the court decision says.

In court, FSB investigator Morozov asked to arrest Lukanin because the physicist “could hide,” “continue to engage in criminal activities,” and could also interfere with the investigation “by concealing and destroying traces of the crime.” At the same time, according to the court decision, Lukanin “did not object” to the arrest, although his defense lawyer “asked to choose a preventive measure not related to detention.” As a result, the suspect was sent to the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center until November 29.

Dmitry Myltsyn contacted lawyer Yuri Koshel, who defended Lukanin in the Tomsk court, using the phone number listed on the website of the Tomsk Region Bar Association. “Some man answered me and demanded that I introduce myself,” says Myltsyn. “I told him what I was calling about.” He said that I was in the wrong place and that “they’ll call me back if anything happens.” But no one called back." “No future” also reached one of the numbers associated with lawyer Koshel. Having learned that a journalist was calling, the subscriber said: “We got to the wrong place.”

At the Tomsk Region Bar Chamber itself, Myltsyn was told that they did not assign their lawyer to defend Lukanin by appointment of a judge, as is usually the case when a public defender is provided. In addition, Myltsyn found out that Koshel did not even try to appeal the court’s decision to place his client in custody.

“It’s just that a man walked and ended up within four walls”

However, by this time Lukanin had already been found - completely by accident. On October 4, a member of the Moscow Public Monitoring Commission, Marina Litvinovich, walked around the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center and found a Tomsk physicist there. “We asked him to come to us, but he refused, telling the pre-trial detention center employee that “until he talks with a lawyer, he will not communicate with anyone,” Litvinovich said. “I think he doesn’t know what the POC is, so he’s afraid to communicate in conditions of unfreedom with people unknown to him.”

Dmitry Myltsyn immediately contacted the FSB investigative department: “At the FSB reception they told us that they would contact us themselves. And they didn’t give me the full name of the performer or contact information.” And on October 5, he filed a complaint with the Lefortovo court in which he described that he was not allowed to see the client, thereby violating the latter’s right to defense.

In a conversation with me, Dmitry Myltsyn clarified that the administration of the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center and the FSB of Russia are openly violating Part 4 of Art. 49 Code of Criminal Procedure. It states that “a lawyer enters into a criminal case as a defense attorney upon presentation of a lawyer’s certificate and a warrant.” This should happen automatically, and not with the sanction of the investigator or the good will of the Federal Penitentiary Service. “Despite the widespread practice, people are allowed there [to Lefortovo] only after an investigator from the investigation team himself sends permission to the pre-trial detention center,” the lawyer explained. But in Lefortovo they told him that no papers had been received from the investigator.

While Myltsyn was waiting for his complaint to be considered in court, Lukanin’s friends and relatives sent him parcels to the pre-trial detention center. “We collected warm things, some necessary hygiene items, a toothbrush, food... He went there without everything,” Nikolai Krivopalov worries. “We write letters to somehow support him... It’s hard to just take him off the street and sit down. Just like that, a person walked and ended up within four walls,” says Valentina Moiseeva.

On October 8, Dmitry Myltsyn “received a call from a certain person who introduced himself as an investigator.” The interlocutor “expressed regret” and told the lawyer that Lukanin had refused his services. “I asked questions: how did this happen and why didn’t you contact me immediately? When did they receive the documents - and how did they refuse me if no one saw me? How was this refusal even received, why not in my presence? - Myltsyn recalls. “He said, I don’t know anything and I don’t have to introduce you to anything at all.”

The meeting of the Lefortovo court on October 12 took place in the absence of Lukanin; The prosecutor and investigator did not consider it necessary to come at all. Myltsyn asked that his client’s participation be ensured at least via video link (VKS). “To understand whether a person really does not want to be protected, you need to talk to him,” explains the lawyer. The court, in turn, agreed with the lawyer and set a new date for the hearing for October 29.

While awaiting trial, on October 16, the lawyer received an official notification from investigator Morozov that Lukanin had refused Myltsyn’s services. It was sent on October 9, the day after the call from “a person introducing himself as an investigator.” When the meeting took place, Lukanin’s participation in it was again not ensured. But they showed a statement from the physicist, according to which the scientist refuses to participate in the meeting “due to the fact that he refused the services of lawyer Myltsyn.”

The defense attorney pointed out to the court that the statement did not indicate when it was abandoned. If before the investigator allowed him into the case, then there is a clear violation. And if after this, then it looks very strange that Lukanin refused a lawyer without even meeting him.

The judge asked the investigator whether lawyer Myltsyn was allowed into the case. “No, at the time when Myltsyn’s requests were received, Lukanin refused his services. [He] entered into an agreement with another lawyer, whose name I don’t want to name,” Morozov replied. Then Myltsyn drew the court’s attention to the conflict: if he was not legally allowed into the case, then Lukanin could not refuse it. However, the court decided to dismiss the lawyer's complaint without satisfaction.

"Contact me after New Year"

Myltsyn was able to find a colleague whose name investigator Morozov did not want to give. It quickly became clear that Lukanin’s ex-wife was called by lawyer Oksana Pavlova to “find out some personal account information.” Upon learning that Pavlova was a member of the Moscow Region Bar Association, Myltsyn was extremely surprised. “She could not legally get assigned to this criminal case,” Myltsyn explains. — If the [FSB] unit is located in Moscow, then only Moscow lawyers, in accordance with Article 51, can get to their destination. And if she entered into an agreement with her client, the question also arises, how? If he was detained at the end of September in Tomsk, especially under such an article, where few people are allowed in from the street.”

Dmitry Myltsyn finds it extremely strange that his colleague, who probably heard about the denial of access, did not contact him. Oksana Pavlova herself told me that she could not comment on “a criminal case that is under investigation,” citing attorney-client privilege. “As soon as the verdict comes into force, I can comment on it. If there is one. I won't comment on anything at the moment. I'll contact you myself. Or you contact me... I think after the New Year,” the lawyer said reluctantly.

When asked how she entered into the matter, the woman replied: “By agreement” and hung up. “Nothing prevents us from sending a request again.” After interviewing Lukanin’s relatives and friends, lawyer Myltsyn found out: Pavlova told the physicist’s sister that she entered into the case by agreement with her brother. But she told the lawyer that she had entered into an agreement with Lukanin’s ex-wife. All this seemed extremely strange to Lukanin’s family - and they assumed that Pavlova was “brought” to the accused by investigators. The relatives, together with Myltsyn, filed a complaint with the Moscow Region Bar Association on November 20 in the hope that their colleagues would initiate disciplinary proceedings and be able to eliminate the gaps.

“The situation is very suspicious. Понятно, что, может быть, наши опасения не подтвердятся. Но пока что дисциплинарное производство — это единственная возможность каким-то образом узнать о соблюдении процедуры доступа адвоката в дело, выяснить подробности заключения соглашения. Сейчас мы ждём результатов», — объяснил защитник.

В жалобе Мыльцын в деталях описал, как уже третий месяц не может попасть к подзащитному — а потом рассказал о сомнениях семьи по поводу адвоката Павловой. Среди прочего защитник отметил, что она прислала бывшей жене физика фотографию письма, якобы написанного им в Лефортово. «При этом есть общеизвестное правило, что адвокат не может проносить телефон на территорию СИЗО. Также запрещено забирать у заключённого в СИЗО какие-либо записи», — объясняет защитник Луканина.

Мыльцын рассказал, что никто из родственников и друзей Луканина не заключал соглашения о его защите с Павловой. «Складывается ощущение, что адвокат Павлова осуществляет защиту Луканина без имеющихся на то оснований <…> Прошу привлечь [её] к дисциплинарной ответственности», — заключил адвокат.

«Я не знаю, что с Россией не так»

Эксперты от адвокатуры подтверждают, что в «Лефортово» и «Матросской тишине» недопуск защитников без «разрешения» следователя — характерная проблема. «Мы возмущены, мы об этом пишем. Тонтон-макутами я их называю — эти команды следователей. И эта проблема существует, но все попытки [тщетны] — эти два специфических изолятора непробиваемы», — говорит адвокат Роберт Зиновьев.

Происходящее компрометирует в первую очередь само следствие, говорит адвокат Лариса Мове из Комиссии по защите прав адвокатов АП Москвы. «Это всё — отрыжка прошлого. Был у нас период, когда на следствие адвокат не допускался. Ну тогда напишите в законе, что адвокат допускается с момента окончания следствия, как было при советской власти, — возмущена Мове. — Они и так творят чего хотят, а мы не можем защититься, потому что у нас нет таких инструментов, как у них. И при всей такой силе они ещё и не допускают адвокатов! Так какова цена этому следствию тогда?»

Зиновьев называет историю с Мыльцыным и Луканиным «делом политического свойства». «Конечно, тут явно по-свински поступили сотрудники следственного аппарата ФСБ, нагло, дерзко. Потому что у них есть целый арсенал легальных, предусмотренных законом средств, — говорит Зиновьев. — Возьми подписку от адвоката, а если дело секретное, то это вообще лишает возможности каких-либо комментариев… Но, видимо, им просто не нужен в деле грамотный, принципиальный адвокат, который может активно противодействовать позиции обвинения. Им нужен послушный, управляемый, тот, которого они уже сами нашли и вот каким-то сомнительным способом воткнули».

Он с сожалением признаёт, что в данной ситуации возможности адвокатской корпорации ограничены. «Всё делается для того, чтобы адвокатов лишить независимости. Сделать их министерством адвокатуры, — говорит Зиновьев. — Получается ощущение непробиваемой каменной стены с заранее прогнозируемым результатом. Если принято такое решение политическое по делу с политическим окрасом, то человек обречён. Надежда на прессу и международные организации».

Близкие Александра Луканина тоже надеются, что огласка поможет что-то изменить в судьбе физика. В самом конце разговора с «Улицей» его сестра Марина говорит, что Луканину и таким, как он, «просто не повезло с Родиной».

«Он не единственный, к сожалению, попал в государственную мясорубку. Столько талантливых, гениальных людей… — не может сдерживать эмоций женщина. — Я не знаю, что с Россией не так».

Полная версия текста впервые опубликована в издании «Адвокатская улица»

Illustrations for No future made by Pasha Barli

To publish materials more often, we need your donations. We will spend them on fees for authors, photographers and illustrators. Below there is a form for donating any amount for the future No future.