Translated material
Russian businessman Valery Morozov, who received asylum in the UK, complained of death threats
Russian businessman Valery Morozov, who received political asylum in the UK in 2011, said that he has received anonymous threatening letters, writes the Sunday Times .
According to the businessman, last week he received an encrypted letter by email with the text: “They came for Sergei, they will come for you too.” We are probably talking about former GRU colonel Sergei Skripal, who, according to British authorities, was poisoned in Salisbury with the Novichok nerve agent.
Morozov ignored this letter, then after a while he was sent a second message with the text: “Do you give a damn about what happens to you? We are waiting for your confirmation." Because of these threats, the businessman contacted the police and was granted state protection.
Valery Morozov lives in Guildford, Surrey. Previously, he was a co-owner of the design and construction company Moskonversprom, which in 2006 and 2009 won a contract for the construction and reconstruction of several objects in Sochi: the Primorsky building of the Sochi sanatorium and the Dagomys sanatorium of the presidential administration.
After this, Morozov said that Vladimir Leshchevsky, who then held the post of deputy head of the main capital construction department of the presidential administration, demanded from him 12% of the amount of the 1.5 billion contract (180 million rubles). Morozov complained to law enforcement agencies, a case was opened against Leshchevsky for taking a bribe, and the businessman himself began to be persecuted. Because of this, he asked for political asylum in the UK.
Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned in Salisbury on March 4. Both are in critical condition in hospital. The UK believes Russia was involved in the poisoning. Because of this, Prime Minister Theresa May announced the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats from Great Britain. In response, Russia also expelled 23 diplomatic staff from the British Embassy, calling the accusations “unsubstantiated” and “provocative.”
In addition to the Skripal poisoning, the UK is investigating the murder of oligarch Boris Berezovsky’s business partner Nikolai Glushkov. His body was found on the evening of March 12 at his home in a London suburb. Kommersant also wrote that signs of strangulation were visible on his neck.
The police counter-terrorism unit is investigating this case, and murder is considered one of the versions. According to Independent sources the businessman could have been strangled with a , dog leash. As part of this case, police told the BBC, UK law enforcement officials began contacting Russians who had moved to the country to discuss issues of their safety. The police emphasize that so far the investigation has no evidence of a connection between the murder of Glushkov and the poisoning of Skripal.