Poison the mockingbird. How the FSB tried to kill Dmitry Bykov

The Insider

June 9, 2021

In April 2019, the writer Dmitry Bykov was poisoned during a trip to the regions, he miraculously managed to avoid death. The Insider and Bellingcat managed to establish that the same Employees of the FSB from the Research Institute-2 and the second service who poisoned Alexei Navalny and Vladimir Kara-Murza participated in this attempt. The attempt was also preceded by a long surveillance (the FSBSHNI flew after Bykov during the year) and, as in the case of Navalny, after poisoning, false statements were made on the “non -transportability” of the patient. The hotel, where, apparently, they poisoned Bykov, can be associated with Navalny's poisoning.

Content

• FSB, Carlson and man with binoculars

• Ideal crime

• Poisoning

• Battle for Bykov

• Newbie?

• Strange trace

FSB, Carlson and man with binoculars

As in the case of Navalny and Kara-Murza, the group of killers from the FSB included chemists from the Laboratory (NII-2 of the FSB) and employees of the Service for the Protection of the Constitutional Organization (second service of the FSB). They began to monitor Bykovov at least a year before poisoning. On May 20, 2018, at 9:35 am Bykov flew out of Moscow to Ufa to give a lecture to children and their parents about the Carlson, who lives on the roof. Together with him, fearless officers of the second FSB service (designed to fight the most dangerous extremists and terrorists) Vladimir Panyaev (flying under his name) and Valery Sukharev (flying with a passport addressed to Nikolai Gorokhov) flew out. Contrary to the established practice, at that time they flew with one flight with Bykov (in the future they did not allow themselves to go back the next day by different flights - bulls in the evening, and the FSBshniks at noon).

Around the same time, in May 2018, the wife of Dmitry Bykov Ekaterina Kevhishvili first noticed in the house opposite a person with binoculars. At first, she did not attach importance to this, but in the summer she began to notice that a person was looking directly in their direction. “I waved his hand, and he jumped,” recalls Catherine. They did not notice any surveillance more.

The same house from which a man with binoculars watched

The next trip after Bykov took place only on November 17, 2018, when all the same Panyaev and Sukharev flew to Rostov. There Bykov spent a poetic evening, again no politics. The next day, everyone is returning to Moscow - the FSBSHNIKA with a daily flight, the bull -free bulls.

And again a break for several months. The next time the Chekists will go for a writer only in April 2019. Shortly before that trip, on the night of April 5, 2019, all instant messengers began to break out at the same time at Ekaterina Kevhishvili. Successfully managed to hack only Telegram (where, according to her, it was hardly possible to get some valuable information, except for the list of contacts). Later on the same day, April 5, Panyaev and Sukharev buy tickets to Rostov, where Bykov planned to fly in order to read two lectures - about Harry Potter and about Russian political jokes. As always, the FSBshniks flew in another flight, but on the same day (April 6), and returned to Moscow in the same way on April 8.

Ideal crime

The next trip of Dmitry Bykov was associated with a total dictation - an annual public event aimed at popularizing literacy, during which famous people read the texts of the dictation. In connection with various other trips, Bykov was not very convenient to fly to Novosibirsk on April 13 (on the day of the dictation), however, as Catherine recalls, the organizers very much insisted and even offered to pay tickets in the business class of the aircraft. It was the organizers (the Center for Culture and Rest “Victory”, the partners of the Total Dictation) chose a hotel for Bykov - the Domina Hotel on Lenin Street (which was logical, since this hotel is located in the immediate vicinity of the Victory cinema, where the dictation was held).

This hotel itself is very noteworthy, because it was there according to the plan that Maria Pevychi should have settled in August 2020, before the arrival of Navalny. Maria, who had a room at Domina’s hotel in a Domina hotel in Novosibirsk in a day earlier than Navalny in advance, noticed surveillance from the airport, and although after some maneuvers she came off, reaching the hotel, she discovered her pursuers there. During registration, they began to ask a number of strange questions (for example, about the occupation), and when she entered her number, she found that he had a common balcony with a neighboring number. They refused to change the number, although the hotel was almost empty. Then she quietly collected things and, without saying, left the hotel through the black entrance. Meanwhile, the billing Alexei Alexandrov (one of the poisoners of Navalny), at the disposal of Bellingcat, show that he was in the immediate vicinity of this hotel that day.

So, on April 13 in the morning, Dmitry Bykov and Ekaterina Kevhishvili landed in Novosibirsk, after which they settled in the Domina Hotel on Lenin Street (there was no common balcony there). By that time, the killer was already in the city - Panyaev from the second service and Ivan Osipov from the Laboratory flew to Novosibirsk the night before (under the names Vladimir Alekseev and Ivan Spiridonov, respectively). And if Panyaev could be those who, according to Putin’s definition, “just look after”, then Osipov is a person of a very specific profile. He not only works in the FSB-2 research institute, but is constantly called by the employees of the Center "Signal" (where, as shown in previous investigations, they work with neuro-parap The substances). It is also listed in registration bases as the recipient of benefits (this may indicate military merits), and in applications for the exchange of contact data appears as a doctor.

Dmitry and Catherine spent a couple of hours in the room, and then went to the Victory cinema, where, recall, a total dictation was held.

Dmitry Bykov performs on a total dictation

All this created the perfect situation for the poisoners. They have known since March that Bykov would fly to Novosibirsk, and from March 25 they knew that he was booked at the Domina Hotel. And most importantly, they knew very much in advance when exactly Bykova would not be in the room. The only thing they could not be 100%sure is that Catherine will also go to the Victory Hall (although it was expected). Calm to the poisoners could give the fact that the dictation was broadcast live, so they did not need to make any efforts to make sure - both Dmitry and Catherine are in the hall, which means the number is empty. How could the poisoners get into the room? The Insider correspondent, who visited the hotel, was convinced that the tracking cameras were installed on all floors in the corridors, and security was closely looking after a few guests. It is difficult to imagine that the poisoners could penetrate the room without the assistance of the hotel staff. The hotel management refused to comment on The Insider.

From left to right: Ekaterina Kevhishvili and Dmitry Bykov in the Victory Hall on that very day

Dmitry and Catherine returned to the room only about six in the evening, after which they again left the number for a couple of hours at about 22:00. Immediately after midnight, Panyaev and Osipov booked a flight to Moscow at 10 in the morning.

Poisoning

In the case of Navalny’s poisoning, it was established that the poisoners from the “laboratory” applied poison on underwear. If so, then, apparently, the next morning Dmitry put on the wrong clothes with which chemists from the Laboratory worked. The whole next day on April 14, he felt great and participated in many events, and on April 15, together with Catherine, he flew to Yekaterinburg, where he again spent the whole day in a vigorous mood and made another lecture. But on the morning of April 16, apparently, Dmitry put on the very clothes.

On April 16, Dmitry and Catherine woke up at 8:30. At 9:00, Dmitry met at a hotel at breakfast with Evgeny Roizman, a little later Catherine joined breakfast. Is it an accident or not, but she drew attention to the man at the next table, which they collided the day before at the door after the lecture. It seemed to her that the man was eavesdropping on the conversation. At about 9:40, they said goodbye to Roizman and moved to the elevator. The man followed them. Catherine asked Dmitry to slow down a little so that at first this suspicious type left. But when they called the elevator, the man was still there. Catherine admits that he could simply hesitate with the key, but it seemed suspicious to her.

At 10:06, Dmitry and Catherine sat in a taxi, at 10:25 they arrived at the airport in order to fly to Ufa for the next event, at the airport Dmitry did not eat anything. The flight flew at 11:25, and only when they headed for the gate, Dmitry said that he was poorly, he began to feel nausea. Thus, between the moment, when Bykov, waking up, dressed, and the first symptoms passed about 2.5 hours (about the same time passed and in the case of Navalny’s poisoning, a little more-about three hours-in the case of the first poisoning of Kara-Murza).

The plane was just starting to take off when Dmitry began vomiting, he breathed heavily and covered with large drops of sweat. From time to time, he “turned off” - closed his eyes and lowered his head, but did not lose consciousness, reacted to speech. After some time, he lay down on the floor, said that it was so easier for him (Navalny had exactly the same reaction). Both Bykov and Navalny do not remember anything from the moment they lay on the floor on the plane, but in fact they both did not lose consciousness for a long time. Moreover, if Navalny was half -wound, then Bykov, until the end of the flight, from time to time joked, as far as he had enough strength, he called the doctors to the concert in the evening. After landing, he could no longer get to his feet, somehow he was dragged to an ambulance. On the way to the hospital, he became very hot, he even took off his T -shirt. In the same place, in the ambulance, his speech was violated-he said something all the time, but it was just a set of combinations of sounds, not a single word could not be made out (he understood others).

It is interesting that immediately after the aircraft with Bykov landed in Ufa, Valery Sukharev, who was in Sochi at that moment, hurried to the local airport and bought tickets for the next flight to Moscow.

Battle for Bykov

Bykov himself claimed that his sensations are very similar to those described by Navalny. However, not only the symptoms, but also the behavior of the authorities who did not want to allow Bykov’s transportation to Moscow coincided. Dmitry Muratov, the chief editor of Novaya Gazeta, where Bykov works, told The Insider that the newspaper from the funds of the insurance medical fund paid for Bykov a plane with two resuscitations on board. And already when the Yak-40 flew out of Moscow and there was an hour to Ufa, "a team of deploying a plane to Moscow arrived from the Ministry of Health." The pilot contacted the hospital and said that in 10 minutes he would be obliged to obey and turn around. Then Muratov called a man who, according to him, “occupies one of the highest posts”, after which the pilot said that he was allowed to continue the flight.

It is interesting that in parallel by the plane from the private medical company Bykov was preparing to pick up the plane of the Ministry of Health, but the flight was canceled after the Tekonsilium with the participation of the chief resuscitator and anesthetist of the Ministry of Health Igor Molchanov. Then Molchanov said that it was not necessary to transport Bykov to Moscow: “We have introduced adjustments to the treatment plan, but there is nothing to radically change anything.” At the same time, Molchanov admitted that the patient’s condition was “difficult” and spoke of “encephalopathy” (this is a very blurry concept, behind which many different brain pathologies can be hidden). Why did the consultation decide not to transport the patient to Moscow, where you can make a more accurate diagnosis and provide the best treatment resources?

Then the media understood the decision of the doctors as a conclusion that bulls are non -transportable. But in a conversation with The Insider, Molchanov said that there were no non -transportable patients (with rare exceptions, for example, associated with some lung pathologies, where the pressure difference in the plane may be critical), and noted that he does not make any diagnoses by television. One way or another, that telexilium became a formal pretext to leave Bykov in the Ufa hospital, and if it were not for Muratov’s persistence and a private plane, it would be unknown whether the writer would have been alive or not.

Newbie?

Bykov had many common symptoms with Navalny, including hyperhidrosis (unusually plentiful sweating) and normocardium against the background of hypovolemia, that is, a decrease in the volume of circulating blood while maintaining the usual rhythm of heart contractions (Bykov’s pulse was higher than that of Navalny, 60–65, but still less frequent than this should be expected to expect hypovolemia). Bykov also had similar laboratory changes in glycemic profile: high glucose, ketones in the urine, slightly increased amylase, narrow pupils, but the doctors then wrote off that in Ufa Bykov introduced many barbiturates that also cause myosa (narrowing of the pupils). In fact, the doctors then did not understand why he was in a coma, and treated him only symptomatically. After several days, Bykov came to his senses in a coma and remained for some time in the same disorientation, which was observed in Navalny.

Doctors did not come to an unambiguous diagnosis then. As in the case of Navalny, they also considered a version associated with decompensation of diabetes against the background of infection. But it turned out to be insolvent, since in the future, Bykov did not have episodes of hyperglycemia in the absence of any sugar-down therapy, which is not character for severe forms of diabetes leading to ketoacidosis. All the doctors with whom The Insider talked converge that no natural reasons could cause such a picture.

Strange trace

When Dmitry came to his senses in Moscow, on his back (in the area of ​​the upper part of the scapula) a raspberry spot the size of a fist was discovered. From where it came from, no one knew. The skin in this place peeled, covered with crusts and was terribly itching. It healed for about a month. Specialists with whom the Insider communicated that the “beginner” in those solutions that are usually used to penetrate the substance through the skin should not give such a picture of irritation. However, they note if a skin-subtract agent was added to such a solution, or radicals were present in the active substance molecule that could cause a skin-subsidiary effect, this could give a similar picture. One way or another, a picture of the described symptoms, taking into account how much time has passed between contact and poisoning, as well as between poisoning and recovery-all this unequivocally indicates the phosphoroorganic substances of the neuro-paralytic action (to which the “beginner” belongs).

If the spot is really followed by the poison, then the fact that Dmitry Bykov took off his T -shirt in an ambulance could save his life, reducing the time of interaction with the substance.

Panyaev, Sukharev and Osipov did not respond to the requests of The Insider and Bellingcat about the comment. Dmitry Bykov told The Insider and Bellingcat that he had no guesses about the possible motives of the killers.

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