November 10, 2011, 11:23 Politics

Pre-election search

Transnistria's representative office registered in the name of the president's son Igor Smirnov was searched in Moscow

Ekaterina Savina close 100%

Russian investigators searched the Moscow representative office of Transnistria and the offices of companies owned by the son of the President of the Republic Igor Smirnov, Oleg. He is accused of stealing 160 million rubles, which Moscow sent to Tiraspol to pay pension supplements and support the agriculture of the unrecognized republic.

Employees of the Investigative Committee conducted a search in the Moscow offices of companies and organizations registered to the son of the President of Transnistria Igor Smirnov Oleg. “As part of the searches, financial, economic and other documents relevant to the criminal case were seized,” said the official representative of the Investigative Committee, Vladimir Markin . “During the investigation, it was established that Oleg Smirnov, to cover up his financial activities on the territory of the Russian Federation, used premises registered as a representative office of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, located in Armenian Lane in Moscow.”

A criminal case against Smirnov’s son on charges of theft and embezzlement of 160 million rubles in aid allocated by Russia was initiated soon after his father, contrary to his initial plans, announced his intention to again take part in the presidential elections. The head of the Russian presidential administration, Sergei Naryshkin , called this decision a “big mistake” of Smirnov, who has led the unrecognized republic for 20 years, and called for “giving way to new political forces,” which, according to the head of the administration, is personified by parliamentary speaker Anatoly Kaminsky .

The Transnistria Cooperation Center, created in 2005, is not an official diplomatic mission, which allowed Russian security forces to conduct a search on its territory. It is registered as a regional public organization and pays taxes as a Russian tax resident. However, in essence this is a diplomatic mission, the PMR Foreign Ministry insists . “During the period of its work, this organization has held a number of events of a wide range, including conferences, round tables, scientific and educational competitions, creative evenings with the participation of officials of the Russian Federation, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh,” they explain in The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the unrecognized republic, in connection with which the accusations of the Russian security forces “that the premises of the official representative office of the PMR “were used to cover up someone’s financial activities” cause “particular bewilderment” in the PMR.

Pridnestrovian diplomats have another argument. In Tiraspol they say that on July 27, the Transnistria Cooperation Center joined the All-Russian Popular Front.

“I would not like to think that the actions of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation are directed against an organization that actively and consistently supports the policies of V.V. Putin, including in the post-Soviet space,” the PMR Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Investigative Committee accuses Oleg Smirnov and the deputy chairman of the Transnistrian Republican Bank Oleg Brizitsky of embezzling 160 million rubles in 2008–2009, which were sent from Russia to Transnistria as humanitarian aid to pay bonuses to pensioners and support the republic’s agriculture. A criminal case under the article “Theft of someone else’s property by appropriation and embezzlement, committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy, on an especially large scale” was opened at the end of October. Article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of up to 10 years. On Monday, investigators reported that Smirnov and Brizitsky did not appear for questioning and the threat to forcibly deliver them could be carried out. RIA Novosti's law enforcement sources report that they may be in Cyprus.

On November 1, the Pridnestrovian Republican Bank made a statement in which it said that there could be no thefts, because Russian money went to the Supreme Council of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, bypassing any commercial structures, clarifies Regnum . “Each expenditure of funds was carried out on the basis of his relevant instructions and was strictly targeted,” the bank clarifies. In total, in 2008–2009, Russia allocated about one and a half billion rubles to the PMR in seven tranches.

Problems arose in Russia and Oleg Smirnov’s wife Marina. The Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation appealed to the Supreme Court, demanding to cancel her registration as a candidate for State Duma deputy from A Just Russia. The CEC motivated its appeal by the fact that, according to its data, Smirnova has not only Russian, but also Moldovan and Ukrainian citizenship, which means she cannot become a State Duma deputy. Information about citizenship, according to the Central Election Commission, was confirmed by the Federal Migration Service of Russia. The representative of A Just Russia, Andrei Fedorov, responded to this by saying that these are data for 2007 and since then this information has become outdated.

The PMR presidential elections are scheduled for December 11.