Sommelier from the "Group" of the Forester

What is known about the citizen of the Russian Federation, anastasia Leonova, detained in Kyiv

In December 2015, the Ukrainian special services were detained by six people, three of whom are Russian citizens. They are accused of creating a terrorist group and the preparation of terrorist attacks. The creator of the group with the call sign was killed during the detention. At the same time, the case is practically classified - there are no specifics of accusations, and today it is known the name of only one arrested citizen of the Russian Federation. This is Anastasia Leonova-she was a diving instructor, worked as a sommelier, and left Moscow in the spring of 2015, because she, the opponent of the current government, "was hard to breathe here." Medusa collected well -known details of the case and found out what Leonov did in Ukraine.

Russians Anastasia Leonov was detained in Kyiv on December 10 at 01:30 in the night near the house where she rented a room in the apartment. The detention was carried out by eight special forces. The girl carried a bottle of wine and a package of milk with her. During a search, her house was found neither weapons, nor explosives, nor an extremist literature. But the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) accuses her of joining a terrorist group of six people. And in the attempt on the implementation of a terrorist act. They do not exclude in the SBU that the girl collaborated with Russian special services. In total, Leonova threatens up to 15 years in prison.

According to lawyer Viktor Gubsky, who is represented by Leonova Ukraine for free - according to the system of providing state legal assistance, the detention itself "took place with great violations." The lawyer has already appealed the arrest (unsuccessfully) and is going to continue to do this in all instances until the Strasbourg Court. Gubsky is sure that the investigation has no evidence of Leonova’s involvement in the terrorist group. Now she is in the Lukyanovsky pre -trial detention center of Kyiv, on February 8, its term of detention expires. By this day, the investigation should present additional materials in the case, and petition for further suppression.

Anastasia Leonova was born in Moscow, studied at a small private university at the financial and economic faculty (Mom Leonova-Olga-told Medusa that now this university no longer exists, and she cannot find a diploma with its name). In the specialty, the girl did not work then. She finished diving courses and left for a year to work as an instructor for the Maldives. After that, she left for Cyprus, where she graduated from the flight school and received an international diploma in managing light -engine aircraft. For some time Anastasia lived in Thailand.

“She was always drawn to the restaurant business, in Moscow it was an art director of the restaurant ( called“ Fahrenheit ”-approx. Medusa ), and for some time organized corporate parties and other events. Then she studied at the Sommelier school, ”Olga Leonova told Medusa.

According to her, Anastasia from childhood helped her engage in volunteer activities. After the Second Chechen War, Olga Leonova herself worked in a private charitable foundation - she helped families with sick children and refugees from Chechnya.

In December 2011, when mass opposition rallies began, the mother and daughter of the Leonov began to go to them together. “I once was in the Yabloko party, with [Alexei] Navalny in those days I saw each other, I can call Petya Officer to my friend,” says Olga. Her daughter was never in parties, but people close to her call her views liberal.

Journalist Yevgeny Levkovich, who was the first to tell about her detention in Ukraine, confirmed in a conversation with Medusa: “In 2015, my friends and I came up with such a thing - to gather every evening at 7 hours on Manezhnaya Square. It was like a protest-political club in the open air at 50-60. And Nastya came there, there we met. Nastya went with us to the Ukrainian embassy. The fact that she is an FSB agent is quite funny. She is a mobile, active and lively girl, who, as it seemed to me then, lacked the release of energy. ”

On March 18, 2015, at the solemn rally “We Together” in honor of the accession of Crimea to Russia, Leonov, along with other oppositionists, conducted an experiment - signed up for the mass of participants in the action, and captured the moment of issuing money for participating in it.

Also, from the words of ashniks, it is known that Leonova came to duty to the place of murder of Boris Nemtsov to prevent the communal services from removing flowers. In the same winter of 2015, the girl was fired from the restaurant with the wording: “You are a wonderful specialist, but your opinion diverges so much with the official policy of our state ...”.

According to Olga Leonova’s stories, since the winter of 2015, her daughter began to say: “Mom, I can’t here anymore, I suffocate, I have changed everything.” In April 2015, she went to Ukraine with a volunteer, as she explained, by mission, but initially was not going to stay there for a long time.

It is known that in Ukraine Leonova was engaged in the collection of humanitarian aid - first in Mariupol, then in Kharkov. “Our humanitarian mission of assistance to the civilian population is engaged in the evacuation of people from the combat zone and the support of those who stayed there,” Ukrainian volunteer Yevgeny Kaplin told Medusa. - We do not finance the military and do not help them. Once we brought us two tons of products, and Nastya helped sort and lay out all the bags. She also helped to collect help: we had tents-nations of the reception, there she also worked there. ” According to Kaplin, Leonova said that she came from Russia due to political persecution.

In May-June, Leonova planned to become a sanitary designer or paramedic in one of the civilian corps of the Azov battalion. This battalion was formed in May 2014 from “civil formations” - volunteers who protect the territorial integrity of Ukraine. And his civilian corps is associations where you can undergo training and get a non -enlarged specialty.

It is known that at the same time, she stayed on the basis of the “Right Sector” for two or three weeks ( the organization was recognized in Russia extremist and prohibited ) in Lyubotin of the Kharkov region. But there she quarreled with activists and left. This fact in an interview with Medusa was confirmed by Russian friend Leonova Maria Poleko: “She was well received [in Ukraine], then she had some kind of conflict [with the participants in the“ Right Sector ”]. But knowing Nastya, I am not surprised - her habit of telling the truth sharply and not everyone likes in the forehead. "

Under the Azov battalion, Leonova spent a total of a month and a half in July and August for a total of a month and a half. In response to the “Medusa” request, the regiment’s press service commented on the situation with Leonova as follows: “According to our data, she was in the civilian corps for several days. She tried to join the ranks, but she was not accepted for violation of discipline. ” What kind of violations were these, the press service could not clarify.

At the end of August, Leonova moved to Kyiv and got a job to work in a sommelier in one of the capital's restaurants. It is known that in Kyiv she has relatives, but she did not contact them and lived on her own.

“During all this time, she [Leonova] did not make the impressions of the terrorist-anxistry. It was evident that she was amused that she - a Russian woman - communicates with the “right -wingers” and “Azov”. That is, with the radicals-extremists, according to the Putin regime hated by her. I did not notice the aggression or anger in it, ” said Maxim Masim Music, familiar with Leonova, Lieutenant of the Ukrainian Navy. The girl visited the wounded military in the Kharkov hospital, they saw each other a couple of times in Kyiv - at the presentation of the book and in the company of friends in the bar.

Gubsky’s lawyer tells Medusa that Leonova was completely unexpectedly arrested and began to go through the diversion-reconnaissance group, headed by the former member of the Right Sector, Oleg, a male with the call sign “Forester”. On December 9, 2015, a few hours before Leonova’s detention, a special operation took place in another area of ​​Kyiv to capture the participants of the terrorist group. During the operation, two people died - the forester himself and an employee of the special forces of the SBU "Alfa" Andrei Kuzmenko. According to the results of that day, the SBU reported on the detention of six people - three Russians and three Ukrainians. Their names are still secret. In the month that has passed since the day of the operation, the name Leonova became the only one in the media.

The group of men is accused of preparing a number of terrorist attacks in large cities of Ukraine - without specifying. By the name of the fighter, even his close associates did not know. The Facebook page that he led was created in the name of Sergei Amirov. In everyday communication, everyone called him a forester. Male took part in hostilities in the Donbass. In the paramilitary association of the DUK (volunteer Ukrainian corps), he was a scout.

“He headed one of the DUK units (he left there at the end of the summer of 2015). He was a highly qualified intelligence officer - a saboteur and adventurer to the brain of bones. He fought, according to him, in the second Chechen (on the side of the Chechens). He sat in the Sailor Silence, ”his ally Elena Belozerskaya reported .

It is also known that male was fond of Buddhism. In these circles, he was known as Dorzhe Zhambo-Lama and was the rector of the Buddhist monastery Sheichen Ling in the village of Olgino of the Volnovakh district of Donetsk region.

According to the source of "Medusa" in the SBU, the special services have long been interested in the forestry group in connection with its radical moods.

Anastasia Leonova did not hide that she was familiar with the forester. They met on the basis of the "Right Sector" - both were fond of Buddhism. Male allegedly wanted to help Leonova stay in Ukraine - the due date of her stay in the country was already expired. Olga Leonova believes that her daughter simply fell under the cleaning of people who have at least some connections with the “right sector”. “It was not connected with the forester in any way, that they corresponded on Facebook, called several times - this is their only contact,” Olga Leonova told Medusa.

There are still no specific accusations against her daughter. The assistant to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Vladislav Kutsenko told Medusa that the case is in the Main Investigative Department of the SBU, and the Prosecutor General simply oversees it.

“According to the 258th article (terrorist act - approx. Medusa), the Security Service of Ukraine does not delay anyone just like that,” Meduza said adviser to the head of the SBU Yuri Tandit. - They detained a group in different cities, consisting of six people, with specific suspicions. All detainees, including three Russian citizens, are directly related to this group. Many of her [Leonova] words about where she was and with whom she met when checking is not confirmed. We can not talk about this civilian yet. We cannot comment without the permission of the investigator. The Security Service of Ukraine will soon comment on this. ”

Lawyer Gubsky draws attention to inconsistencies in the materials of the case that he has. For example, it follows that male organized a group in December, and after ten days they were detained. “As the girl could have time to enter the group during this time and even prepare a terrorist act, I don’t understand. In order to consider the suspicion justified, at least indicate the place, time, circumstances. There should be any specifics at least some. And here only streamlined phrases. That is why we declare and will declare that she was illegally detained and illegally put it into custody, ”the lawyer says. According to him, the case file prove the innocence of his client.

The first twenty days after the arrest, Leonov spent a temporary content of the SBU in the isolation ward, while according to the instructions you can stay there from 3 to 10 days. The lawyer assumes that the delay at this stage is explained by the fact that the girl was of prompt interest. She was even kept in a double chamber alone. On December 31, 2015, Leonov was transferred to Lukyanovsky pre-trial detention center of Kyiv.

During the detention of Leonova, they managed to talk with his mother only once - at the trial as they stop. Dates with her are allowed, but when Olga Leonova was in Ukraine, she simply did not have time to go through the entire admission procedure in order to see her daughter in a pre -trial detention center. The Russian authorities, according to her, did not help her in any way.

With the outside world, Anastasia Leonova communicates with the help of letters, which her mother then publishes on Facebook: “The 26th day. January 4, 2016. Kiev pre -trial detention center. My confidence that everything in this life is given to us for a reason, it flies to hell. Although kill, I don’t understand what this story should teach me. Why do you need a valuable skill of washing the head in the sink or boiling borsch with a boiler? Why should I sleep on the bunks, hugging a plastic bottle with boiling water, so as not to freeze from the cold? I'd like to sob in a voice. Hellishly cold. Hellishly lonely and at the same time it is impossible to stay alone. Dear universe, you ******. And this is the only thing I understand. Nastya".

Maria Frost

Kyiv

Ani Hovhannisyan

Moscow