Translated material
Poisonous route
Cycle " Unknown opposition "
Poisonous route.
Report that the authorities could learn about the poisoning of Alexei Navalny if they wanted to
Andrey Zakharov, Sonya Groysman, September 10, 2020
Three weeks after the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, the Russian authorities not only did not find possible performers - a criminal case has not yet been instituted. The “project” passed the Navalny route on the morning of poisoning in order to understand whether this crime really is such an insoluble riddle for security forces.
The square in front of Tomsk airport, early morning is the time when several flights to Moscow fly away from the city. Almost three weeks ago, in one of these aircraft, the opposition politician Alexei Navalny sat, but instead of the capital of Russia, he ended up in the capital of Germany-in a coma and, according to the German authorities, with symptoms of poisoning by military nervous substances of the Novice class. The development of the "beginner" was conducted in the USSR in the 1970-1980s. This slightly playful word is customary to designate a whole family of dangerous neuro-paralytic agents. Famous cases with a high probability of using the “Novice”-banker Ivan Kivividi (1995, death), ex-colonel GRU Sergey Skripal and his daughter Julia (2018, coma). In addition, Novice could be used in 2015 against the Bulgarian businessman Emelyan Gebreva (long coma).
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He smokes, but in a specially designated place, pulling a medical mask on the chin. A pre -investigation check of what happened to Navalny is engaged in his colleagues in the Tomsk transport police. “Now they collect pieces of paper, they send requests - the crew of questions, than they fed, what they did not feed,” he says about their work.
One of the creators of Novice, Vladimir Korov, in an interview with the Project, suggests that, judging by the data available, the poison could enter the Navalny body a few hours before departure. “Project” suggests to see where, when and how poisoning could occur - and whether it is necessary to “collect pieces of paper” to solve this crime.
Who is Ugov
In Soviet times, 73-year-old Russian, Vladimir Korov, worked at the branch of the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology in the Saratov Region. This is the NII and personally Ugov engaged in the development of a new type of nervous-paralytic substances of the Novichok class. He became widely known after the poisoning of Sergei and Julia Skripal, actively commenting on the capabilities and consequences of the use of a “newcomer” in the media.
Where was Navalny on the eve of poisoning
Navalny, along with several associates, arrived in Tomsk from Novosibirsk in the evening of August 17 - as part of a trip to cities, where local elections will be held on September 13. In Tomsk, he was supposed to shoot a film investigation about local united Russia.
Navalny and several other FBK employees settled at the Xander Hotel - one of the few four -star hotels of Tomsk. There are simply no five -star here. And for the filming of the film, an apartment was rented for several days.
Who owns the Xander hotel
The main owner of the hotel is the 43-year-old Tomsk entrepreneur Alexander Vazhenin. Actually, the name "Xander" itself can be understood as a derivative on its behalf. Its family also owns the Gogol-Hotel located nearby-also a four-star. In addition, at one time Vazhenin was related to a small suburban recreation center with the playful name “Shirli-Mirli”.
Vazhenin began with the furniture business, then switched to development. Xander earned in 2017. “Project” handed him a request for a comment through a partner, but he did not want to communicate.
On the penultimate day in Tomsk - August 19 - Navalny worked on the film, and in the evening he arrived at the FBK headquarters to meet with volunteers. After that, Navalny wanted to swim in the Tomi River, explaining this by the tradition of plunging into local reservoirs wherever happens. The FBK in Tomsk was helped by a local lawyer and former investigator of the Investigative Committee Anton Timofeev - in particular, he carried part of the crew. He invited Navalny to swim, not within the city, but in the village of Kactanchikovo a little south, about a twenty -minute drive from Tomsk.
“I live here [in Kaftanchikovo], I know the shore, I know that the water is cleaner - higher along the river,” Timofeev himself explains.
In Kattanchikovo, guests from Moscow arrived at about 10 pm on two cars: at the wheel of one there was Timofeev, the other was the coordinator of the headquarters of Navalny in Tomsk Ksenia Fadeeva.
Navalny spent about ten minutes in the water, sailed to the middle of the river, praised the local nature and drove back to Tomsk by car Fadeeva. The politician flew out at 7.55 the following in the morning. The local headquarters of the FBK had a lot of work on the film, so it was decided that Navalny and his colleagues would go to the airport on their own, recalls Fadeeva.
How Navalny could be poisoned at the hotel
From the moment of settlement, the FBK employees have lived in the same numbers in Xander, not changing them, one of the team members claims. In any case, from Kaftanchikovo Navalny returned to the same number where he spent the night on the eve and where his things were lying, the press secretary of the FBK Kira Yarmysh told the project. Most likely, it was number 239 on the second floor. One of the hotel employees told the “project” that Navalny lived either in the 239th or in the neighboring 240th, difficult to say more precisely. At the same time, it was in the 239th issue of Rospotrebnadzor in the Tomsk region on August 20, on the day of the poisoning of the politician, he began an unscheduled audit-the first in the entire history of the hotel, which indirectly may indicate that it was the poisoned politician who lived there.
239th-a standard room with a wide bed, table and chair. The Xander design is such that all numbers are in one long corridor, which is visible through the cameras. Everything that happens at Navalny’s number is visible at once from two cameras - in the middle of the corridor and at the fire exit.
With Navalny, a press secretary of Kira Yarmysh and assistant Ilya Pakhomov were supposed to fly to Moscow. To catch the plane, they agreed to meet in the hotel lobby at six in the morning. They would not have succeeded in eating even if desired: in Xander breakfast begins at seven o’clock.
Navalny left the room and went down the stairs with a suitcase down: there is no elevator in Xander. Yarmys did not see how Navalny left the room. In any case, the door itself does not close: in order to slam it, you need to take up the outer handle and pull the door to yourself.
When everyone gathered, Pakhomov called a taxi through the Yandex application. Navalny sat on the front seat, says Yarmysh.
"Project" told Uglev this part of the morning route Navalny. The scientist sees only one probable way of poisoning on this part of the path: the poisoner in the absence of Navalny could apply the poison inside the suitcase with things - for example, on underwear. “In time and in dynamics [most likely] that Navalny got about six in the morning, took a shower, steamed the body, put on infected panties, and serious signs of poisoning began on the plane,” he says.
Where are Navalny's personal items now? Already in Omsk, the Russian security forces tried to inspect them, but the wife of politics Julia Navalny did not let them do this, Kira Yarmysh wrote on Twitter. To the question of the “project”, where these things are now in Germany or in Russia, Yarmys did not answer.
The VAGLE -coated with a poison handle is unlikely, although in the case of the former GRU Colonel Sergei Skripal it was she who became the source of infection. If after that he had not washed his hands, then the symptoms would have developed faster, besides, Navalny could be more angry for others - many people recognized the politician on the street and in the crowd, they could press his hand, which would increase the probability of random victims. Even in Salisbury, in addition to Skripal and his daughter, medical care was required by 46 people.
The use of a taxi for poisoning Uglev considers it impossible: it is not known where the victim will sit, and there is a risk of poison on the driver.
Where they could poison Navalny at the airport
In the morning from the hotel to Tomsk Airport - about half an hour. The airport at this time is full of passengers: with an interval of about 20 minutes, three flights fly to Moscow at once. At the same time, the throughput of a small two -story airport terminal is 600 people per hour.
Correspondents of the Project went to the airport about 6.40, when, most likely, Navalny with associates. Already at this time, at the entrance to the airport, before the inspection area, the line of those who want to fly to the capital is formed. It’s also more closely: at the registration racks, the queue for which stretches through the entire narrow hall of the airport, in the pre -flight inspection zone and further when going for landing: to get into the perennic bus, you need to defend in the new line - on the stairs.
Navalny felt good at the airport, laughed and joked, although he looked low, told Yarmysh on the air of the program “Navalny.live”. Politics learned, his presence at the airport was discussed, but few approached him, recalls one of the passengers of that plane named Peter. According to him, a man was photographed with a politician.
There are at least three photos in social networks that passengers took with a bulk: on the stairs leading to buses, in the bus itself and on board. Yarmysh told the “project” that he did not remember that they were removed with Navalny in the airport building. “But, knowing how usually they take pictures with him, most likely I just forgot,” she added.
On all the way from the entrance to the airport to the landing zone (including the ladder to the bus), video surveillance cameras were installed, and the correspondents of the project were convinced. And in some places the airport administration even warns the passengers about this with a sign: "Attention, video surveillance is conducted."
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Could Navalny poison in a cafe
At the beginning of the eighth in the morning of August 20, Navalny and his satellites went into the anticipation zone. As elsewhere in the Tomsk airport, it is closely in the most loaded hours. You can pass the time to look at the goods in souvenir shops or in the only institution - the “Vienna coffee shop”.
Despite the large number of visitors during the departure of several flights at once, accepts orders and prepares the same waitress. On August 20, when Navalny flew, a waitress named Irina worked, the saleswoman of one of the souvenir shops told the project correspondent. She is not new and for a long time in the “Vienna coffee shop”, the saleswoman of the next shop added.
To have time to serve customers, the following system applies: having accepted the order even for one coffee, the waitress issues a paper number and then, after some time, brings drinks. Judging by the story of Yarmysh on the air “Navalny.live”, this is exactly what the day happened: the FBK officers ordered coffee and tea and sat at the table to the left of the entrance to the departure zone. Here, Navalny was later photographed by Muscovite Alexander Reshetnikov, flying the same flight.
It was the waitress who brought tea and coffee, said Yarmysh. At the same time, drinks are being prepared right there, behind the bar, everyone in sight, the correspondents of the “project” noticed. There is also a closed kitchen in the cafe, from where they bring food and part of the drinks - for example, cocktails. It was not possible to find out where exactly the tea and coffee for Navalny were prepared: the director and owner of the Vienna Coffee shop Peter Filonenko did not respond to calls or messages. The coffee shop after the story with Navalny was closed for a week, but then opened again.
On the first day after Life poisoning, he published two recordings from the cameras next to the coffee shop. The news came out with a frequency of several hours. The first shows how Pakhomov approaches the table in the “Vienna coffee shop” and brings something, on the basis of which the publication concluded that it was he who brought tea (according to Yarmysh, he put water on the table). In another video made a little later, the waitress comes up and puts two cups in front of Pakhomov and Navalny, which confirms the version that it was an employee of the Vienna Coffee shop who brought hot drinks.
However, Uglev is extremely skeptical to the fact that the poison could penetrate the body through tea: when the "beginner" admission to the oral way, one tenth drop will be enough so that in a few minutes cramps begin, he says.
What happened on an airplane
Around 7.30, a landing began on the plane, and by 7.50 the plane was full and ready to take off. On that Boeing, 176 people flew, they told the S7 press service. Navalny rode with his associates in the second bus and went aboard one of the last, recalls a passenger named Peter. The politician took the place 10E, at the window of the village of Yarmysh, at the passage - Pakhomov, follows from the stories of several passengers with whom the project spoke, as well as the story of the Yarmysh on the air of the Navalny.live program.
In total, the Project spoke with more than 20 passengers of this flight.
About eight aircraft took off, and at ten - emergency sat in Omsk. What happened in this interval? About five minutes after the take -off, Navalny was covered with a perspiration and asked Yarmysh with a napkin, then he went to the toilet, where, according to the passenger of Roman Shutov, he was “for a very long time”. He never got to his place - he lost consciousness and remained lying in the kitchen in the tail. In nine on the speakerphone, the flight attendants asked if there was a doctor on an airplane. The remaining hour before Omsk, along with the nurse flying with the same flight, they tried to help Navalny. “It was heard how he was asked not to close his eyes and breathe,” recalls Shutov.
The “Project” interviewed the eight passengers of that flight, including those sitting near Navalny’s place, whether anyone experienced problems with well-being on board. Everyone claims that the politician was the only one.
One of the developers of Novice Ugov is not surprised by this. According to him, Navalny received approximately 20% of the deadly dose. To establish whether to other passengers “Novice”, they need to donate blood: the dose that they could receive could be minimal and did not cause poisoning, but could affect well -being. However, the more time passes, the less chance that the remains of the poison will be discovered, Narov concludes.
However, no one began to take tests. In Moscow, upon the arrival of the aircraft, two or three police officers climbed on board and asked for three rows passengers to stay - behind, in front and side of the row, where Navalny was sitting. They, as witnesses, gave written explanations and “went about their business,” Petersburger Andrei Polovinchenko, who was sitting right behind Navalny, told the “project”.
The “project” is known only about two cases when the police contacted one of the passengers after the flight.
The first is a resident of Kazan Ilya Ageev. It was he who photographed with Navalny in the zone of exit to the bus and subsequently gave numerous media comments. When he was in Krasnoyarsk on September 1, he was called the operatives of the local police, probably tracking his movements through the “search-magistral” base. Written explanations about what he saw on board August 20, he gave, sitting in the car.
The second is Muscovite Alexander Reshetnikov, who was sitting at Navalny. He, according to him, the police called the next day and asked to send a photo of the politician that he made in the coffee shop.
The lack of interest in passenger certificates is not the only example of how slowly there is a search for possible poisoners.
How security officials are in no hurry to look for performers
Soon after it became known about the Boeing emergency landing in Omsk, Anton Timofeev, who drove Navalny on the eve of Navalny, went to the Xander Hotel, where several FBK employees remained to live (part of the FBK team continued to work in Tomsk on the film-investment film). The first representatives of law enforcement agencies that arrived in a potentially infected place were the fighters of the Russian Guard with the question "What did you have here?" He says. A little later, the investigator from the district police department was delayed at the hotel.
Timofeev himself was interviewed twice a few days later, and at first the district police officer came to him, which serves several villages of the Tomsk district. «Она сама была удивлена, что отравлением занимается она», — вспоминает Тимофеев. После нее с уточнениями прибыл оперуполномоченный транспортной полиции Томска. Поговорить с Тимофеевым хотели также сотрудники районных отделов полиции Томска, которые, по его словам, говорили, что у их коллег есть его показания, а у них — нет. «Я предложил им обратиться к коллегам», — говорит он.
Машину, на которой он возил Навального, никто не осматривал, необходимых смывов, которые могут показать, например, что политик был отравлен еще накануне вечером, никто не делал.
Не проводили силовики и осмотра машины Ксении Фадеевой, которая отвезла Навального от Кафтанчиково до отеля Xander. Ей позвонили 1 сентября — спустя 11 дней после отравления Навального — и спросили, на какой машине она ездила с политиком. При этом до этого она уже была на беседе в транспортной полиции (25 августа, 5 дней спустя отравления), где молодая девушка с погонами лейтенанта спрашивала ее, что ели и пили во время приезда Навального, и все ли ели одно и то же.
Практически весь путь Навального в то утро должны были зафиксировать камеры: они есть и возле его номера, и возле отеля, и, естественно, в аэропорту, причем ровно в тех зонах, где возможный тактильный контакт политика с третьими лицами особенно вероятен. Мы не можем утверждать, что силовики их отсматривали.
Полицейский из линейного отдела томского аэропорта, с которым неофициально поговорил корреспондент «Проекта», утверждает, что записи с камер аэровокзала отсматривались в рамках доследственной проверки. В Управлении МВД на транспорте по Сибирскому федеральному округу не ответили, есть ли в материалах доследственной проверки записи с камер из тех мест, где Навальный бывал в то утро.
В съемную квартиру, где шли съемки фильма, полицейские пришли примерно через неделю после отравления , рассказала «Проекту» менеджер, которая занимается ее арендой. Сделали смывы, изъяли сыпучие вещества — специи, сахар, соль, соду, осмотрели посуду и туалет. При том, что квартира после 20 августа не изымалась из оборота — после ФБК туда заселились гости. «Мы им сказали, что проверять так поздно уже бессмысленно, на что они ответили: „Положено“», — вспоминает менеджер, занимающаяся арендой этой квартиры.
Отель Xander не закрывался и был полон постояльцев , рассказала «Проекту» его сотрудница. Несколько дней был закрыт номер, где жил Навальный, но сейчас и он сдается. Заместитель управляющего Татьяна Литвинова, которой корреспондент «Проекта» позвонил под видом потенциального гостя, рассказала, что правоохранительные органы ничего опасного не нашли, люди в костюмах химзащиты не приезжали.
Официально в отеле вопросов о Навальном избегают. «Мы не рассказываем информации о постояльцах, это запрещено», — сказала та же Литвинова, когда корреспондент «Проекта» позвонил ей как журналист.
20 августа — в день отравления — Роспотребнадзор по Томской области инициировал проверку в номере 239, который, скорее всего, занимал Навальный. Однако ее цель — не поиск ядовитых веществ, а оценка того, соблюдаются ли «санитарные нормы при хранении продуктов в мини-баре», следует из единого реестра проверок. Проверять мини-бар в одном отдельном взятом номере планируется почти месяц. Отдельно указано, что риск возможных последствий — «умеренный». Это одна из самых низких категорий в государственной классификации, что вполне соответствует общему отношению властей к отравлению Навального: пока не будет доказано наличие ядовитых веществ в его организме, не будет ни уголовного дела, ни полноценного расследования.