Alexandra Belov (Potkin) was sent under house arrest

Judge of the Tver District Court of Moscow Maria Sizintseva sent a member of the political council of the ethnopolitical association "Russian" Alexander Belov (Potkin) for house arrest for a period until November 30. It is reported by "Mediazona".

The investigator of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Nikolai Budolo insisted on choosing such a preventive measure. In support of his petition, he indicated evidence confirming Potkin's participation in the legalization of illegally acquired property. One of the documents that were evidence, the accused ate during the detention, added the investigator. In addition, he noted that Potkin does not live at the place of registration, is not officially employed, and also heads nationalist organizations in Russia and Kazakhstan.

Potkin himself and his lawyer Igor Popovsky sought a security for 1.5 million rubles. The leader of the "Russians" proved that his persecution was politically motivated, noting that there was not a single direct certificate in the case file confirming his involvement in legalization.

As Interfax reports , at the beginning of the meeting, the prosecutor asked to postpone the hearing as it was stopped for another 72 hours. He explained that the materials of the case, excited against Potkin in Kazakhstan, were received in Russia, and law enforcement officers need time to get acquainted with them. "Mediazona" clarifies that this is a matter of extremism. However, Sizintsev rejected this petition.

Potkin was detained on Wednesday morning in the metropolitan hotel "Intourist Kolomenskoye". He was charged under Article 174 of the Criminal Code (legalization of property acquired by other persons illegally), the sanction of which is up to seven years of the colony.

It is claimed that Potkin is involved in the theft of $ 5 billion at BTA-Bank depositors by its former owner Mukhtar Ablyazov. The investigation states that the leader of the "Russians", on behalf of Ablyazov, was engaged in the management and legalization of part of the property deduced from the control of the BTA. In particular, we are talking about the most liquid assets of the bank - land plots in the Domodedovo district of the Moscow Region with a total area of ​​2490 hectares.

According to the investigation, Potkin met Ablyazov in 2011. Initially, he carried out sociological research for the banker, studying the influence of nationalist forces in Kazakhstan, and also tried to attract the leaders of these forces to work in Ablyazov against the ruling regime. Later, the leader of the "Russians" began to purchase equipment and recruit journalists for Kazakhstan opposition television channels financed by the banker.

In the future, Potkin, according to investigators, began to control not only media, but also other assets of the banker located in Russia. These, according to law enforcement officers, include firms that formally own land plots in the suburbs. It is alleged that the directors of these enterprises are Potkin’s colleagues on the nationalist movement.

Meanwhile, a colleague of Potkin according to the EPO "Russians" Vladimir Basmanov said that the case was fabricated. "The accusation is 100 percent fictitious, built on rumors and speculations previously launched in the media to discredit Russian nationalists," he emphasized. Basmanov also said that "before the detention of the special services threatened Belov, demanding from him to publicly support Vladimir Putin’s policy, as many others did," but he refused.

This is not the first thing against Potkin. In 2006, ethnic unrest in Kondopoga against a politician who at that time led the movement against illegal immigration, made the case under Article 282 of the Criminal Code (excitement of hatred and enmity). Later, however, the case was closed behind the lack of corpus delicti.

In May 2009, Dorogomilovsky District Court of Moscow sentenced Potkin to one and a half years with a conditionally test term for the same 282nd article for the chanting of anti-Semitic and anti-government slogans at a rally, as well as for abusive statements against the peoples of Transcaucasia and Central Asia. Potkin himself claimed that he was persecuted for the slogan "Death to the invaders!", Provided by him in software speech in the Russian march in 2007.