Translated material
Putin's scientific advisor sued Transparency over the "Billionaire from the Mountain" investigation
The rector of the Mining University in St. Petersburg, Vladimir Litvinenko, filed a lawsuit for the protection of honor and dignity against Transparency International - Russia. The reason for the lawsuit was an investigation by Transparency called "Billionaire from the Mountain", dedicated to Litvinenko's connection with the elite residential complex "Vasilyevsky Quarter".
Litvinenko demands that the information contained in the investigation be recognized as untrue. According to Transparency, the lawsuit was filed on September 26, 2017, but the organization learned about it only on January 24.
In addition to Transparency, Litvinenko also sued Delovoy Peterburg and the Offshore Net website. Delovoy Peterburg spoke about Litvinenko's connection with the Vasilyevsky Quarter residential complex in November 2016. What is the reason for the lawsuit against Offshore-net, Transparency found it difficult to answer (search on the site does not return materials about the rector of the Mining University).
The total amount of Litvinenko's claims is 65 million rubles. He expects to receive 30 million from Transparency International - Russia, 20 million from Delovoy Peterburg, five million from three journalists of this publication, and 10 million from Offshore No.
- In the investigations of Transparency and Delovoy Peterburg, we are talking about the elite residential complex Vasilyevsky Quarter. According to publications, it was built by structures close to Litvinenko on lands allocated to the Mining University by the administration of St. Petersburg for university buildings.
- Vladimir Litvinenko became the rector of the Mining University in 1994. He is the richest head of a university in Russia, his declared income in 2016 amounted to 196 million rubles.
- Litvinenko is known as the man under whose leadership Vladimir Putin defended his Ph.D. thesis in the late 1990s. The rector of the Mining University led Putin's election campaigns in St. Petersburg in 2000, 2004 and 2012; once again In January 2018, Litvinenko was appointed head of Putin's campaign headquarters in St. Petersburg.