Security forces have identified at least six people who transferred money to FBK

The Mediazona publication got acquainted with the materials of the criminal case against the co-founder of Dissernet and Novaya Gazeta journalist Andrei Zayakin, who is suspected of financing extremist activities (Part 1 of Article 282.3 of the Criminal Code) due to a donation to the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) ).

From the analysis published by journalists, it follows that the security forces could take advantage of a technical glitch in the payment system and established the identities of six donors, including Zayakin.

A malfunction in the system occurred on August 5, 2021, the day FBK collections restarted. The day before, the Moscow City Court’s decision to ban FBK, Navalny’s headquarters and the Foundation for the Defense of Citizens’ Rights as extremist organizations came into force. Then politicians Ivan Zhdanov and Leonid Volkov announced the relaunch of crowdfunding through the Stripe service with enhanced security measures for donors: information about which organization received the transfer should not have reached Russian banks.

However, on the day of launch, there was a glitch due to which Stripe gave Russian banks information about the purpose of payments of some donors. “Mediazona” draws attention to the fact that the materials of the criminal case contain a document from Sberbank, sent at the request of the investigation. It provides detailed information about the FBK transfers made by Zayakin and two other donors.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Glazkov, who compiled the Ministry of Internal Affairs certificate for the case against Zayakin, lists in it the names of five more people who donated to FBK on the day the collections restarted. The document identifies 50-year-old Alexey from the Magadan region, 55-year-old Sergey, 47-year-old Andrey, 39-year-old Peter (all three from Moscow) and 20-year-old Oleg from the Novosibirsk region.

One of them made a transfer from an account at Raiffeisenbank, the rest through Sberbank. It is not clear from the certificate why these particular people are included in it and whether other donors are known to the investigation.

OVD-Info is aware of another criminal case regarding the financing of extremist activities in Moscow, the data of the defendant coincides with those discovered by Mediazona.

A criminal case against Zayakin was opened on August 8, 2022, Mediazona clarifies. The journalist was detained on August 28, and his apartment was searched. The next day, the Basmanny District Court ordered Zayakin to ban certain actions.

• In August 2021, it became known that a case under the article on financing extremist activities was opened against Ivan Zhdanov and Leonid Volkov, Navalny’s associates. The reason was a video in which they talk about raising money for the opposition team. This case was later combined with other cases against Navalny and his supporters.
• On June 9, 2021, the Moscow City Court recognized the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), the Foundation for the Protection of Citizens' Rights (FZPG) and the headquarters of Alexei Navalny as extremist organizations. An appeals court later upheld this decision. After this, supporters of the opposition politician began to leave Russia en masse.