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Interview in "Novaya Gazeta"

Details: Published: 26 April 2018

I would like to express my deep gratitude to the journalists of Novaya Gazeta who showed interest in my situation, their attention, and professional approach.

Below is the article, an interview, where I speak about the reasons for my criminal prosecution, the hopes I set on the "Titov's List", and some problems of Russian reality.

I am glad that the article has already brought both the public reaction and the response of Boris Titov, whose support gives me the hope for justice, which I have almost lost. The article is available at the link, but I also post it below without editing.

Prosecutor General of Russia Yury Chaika supported the idea to stop persecutions of businessmen

Details: Published: 02 April 2018

This Friday in Yekaterinburg, the representatives of the General Prosecutor's Office, government officials and members of the business community, held a meeting dedicated to the protection of investors' rights. During his visit to Yekaterinburg, Prosecutor General Yury Chaika said that he considers the possible amnesty for businessmen who had to leave the country, to be a "good decision". "In general, of course, this is the right approach, we expect that taking into account changes in the legislation, this mechanism will work”, said the Prosecutor General of Russia.

The reason for this reaction of the General Prosecutor is the request of Ombudsman Boris Titov to assist in resolving issues related to the criminal cases of 16 entrepreneurs who are currently abroad. These individuals voiced their desire to return to Russia, if not for the criminal persecutions against them. "Charges in cases of these businessmen stem from purely economic disputes...", said Boris Titov, asking for guarantees of freedom for the returnees.

It is noteworthy, that Yury Chaika did not rule out the possibility that the pressure put on these entrepreneurs by the law enforcement agencies became the main reason for their escape. "If any violations committed by law enforcement agencies are found, we will resolve these issues”. said the Prosecutor General.

All these statements concern me as one of the persons on the "Titov's list", therefore I'd like to speak out on this matter below.

Voting by command

Details: Published: 14 March 2018

Almost every official and big business are trying to demonstrate their wide public support of the "main candidate" in the upcoming presidential elections. There is a big doubt that the main candidate, whose rating is already high, really needs this. However, it does not stop them from trying. There is no need to give orders, issue plans or force anyone, the officials themselves are eager to prove their loyalty and arrange the voter turnout and guarantee victory. The established system itself is working for the needed outcome.

To provide the increased turnout percentage, the system actively utilizes citizens, dependant on the government paychecks – students, state employees, workers from budget-funded fields, and even the employees of large corporations.

NastyaRybka asked for political asylum in the US. She promises to expose corrupt officials.

Details: Published: 01 March 2018

The scandalous couple NastyaRybka (Anastasia Vashukevich) and Alex Lesley (AleksandrKirillov), both recently arrested in Thailand, has applied to the US consulate for political asylum. In their appeal, they claim that if they are extradited to Russia, their lives may be in danger.

In addition, Nastya told the reporters from the United States that "There are many things she did not want to speak about". Now she claims that she is ready to tell about the connections between US President Donald Trump and his entourage, and Russian representatives, whom she allegedly knows a lot about.

Earlier Anastasia mentioned that she has some scandalous facts about high-ranking Russian officials and businessmen, enough to write a whole book. However, it may also be of interest to a narrower circle. For example, she asked the Russian president for a personal meeting, to pass him certain "interesting information".

Rallies in memory of Boris Nemtsov held in Russia

Details: Published: 26 February 2018

Last Sunday, on 25th February 2018, rallies in memory of the famous politician and opposition member Boris Nemtsov took place in the center of Moscow and other Russian cities. Nemtsov was assassinated on February 27, 2015, on the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge.

Before the start of the event, Moscow law enforcement officials tightened security measures and blocked off vehicle traffic along the route of the march. Dozens of police, Rosgvardia and OMON officers arrived at the square near the metro station "Pushkinskaya" an hour prior to the event.

According to the information provided by the coordinator of the independent organization White Counter Dmitri Ionov, as of 14:30, around 7.6 thousand people took part in the memorial action. The press service of Moscow's division of the Ministry of Internal Affairs stated that about 4500 people participated in the event.

Two of the presidential candidates – Grigory Yavlinsky and Ksenia Sobchak have participated in the march. A number of well-known opposition members like Mikhail Kasyanov, Ilya Yashin, Emilia Slabunova, Vladimir Ryzhkov and Sergei Mitrokhin also took part in the procession in Moscow.

Memorial rallies were also held in other major cities of Russia: Barnaul, Biysk, Volgograd, Yekaterinburg, Izhevsk, Kazan, Kaliningrad, Krasnoyarsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Perm, Rostov-on-Don, St. Petersburg, Saratov, Tomsk, Tyumen, Ulyanovsk, Cheboksary, Chelyabinsk ...

There were no serious incidents during the event, however, some people were reportedly arrested, mainly for demonstrating illegal paraphernalia.

Titov's list brings hope for justice

Details: Published: 12 February 2018

The creation of the so-called "Titov's list" became an unexpected and pleasant surprise. The representative for the Rights of Entrepreneurs, Boris Titov, has composed a list of businessmen forced to seek refuge abroad after being prosecuted by Russian law enforcement on questionable criminal cases, which are worth reconsidering. The list was presented to the President of Russia. It contains 16 people, including me - Konstantin Dyulgerov.

"These ex-businessmen all have similar stories: they managed to leave the country before they were imprisoned. Some have lived outside Russia for 20 years, with even the Interpol already excluded them from the wanted list. Yet in their Motherland the cases against them still exist", said the business representative. "Our main goal is to "look into the eyes", to determine the further steps to ensure their legal protection and their further return to Russia", stressed Boris Titov. Also, according to the business ombudsman, he is only going to defend those entrepreneurs, whose cases were actually unlawful and initiated with the single purpose to take away their business. Moreover, even if the entrepreneur has indeed violated something, it pointless to put him in jail. For the country's economy, it is much more profitable if he compensates for the caused damage in double or triple size, and then continue to do business, pay taxes and create jobs.

This information has been quickly spread by many media outlets, including those with an undoubted authority - TASS, Interfax, RIA Novosti and others. In a separate note, I would like to thank RBC, who managed to find my contacts and provide me with the opportunity to express my opinion.

When I turned to Boris Titov with a plea for help, I did not even hope for such outcome. It was highly unexpected for me to get into the "Titov's list". Boris Titov has personally met with some of the businessmen. It is known that these meetings took place in the UK, but I do not live there and never attended any of them.

Dynastic chekist state capitalism is ruling Russia

Details: Published: 23 January 2018

There is a "dynastic state capitalism" blossoming in today's Russia. Its idea is that the political elites which hold the power behave like noblemen and kings of the past, transferring their power and privileges by inheritance. This concept of the current situation was voiced during the panel discussion at the Gaidar forum.

"What we have developed this day is a resource authoritarianism: a certain group that sells a resource, also owns it and protects it. In this system, security is more important than freedom, so we are talking about chekist state capitalism. What we own - state assets, quasi-private assets - we also protect, using the power of the secret services. That's how this regime works", said Andrei Kolesnikov, representative of the Carnegie Moscow Center. "State and quasi-private assets, owned in fact by a few people in this country, who at the same time perform bureaucratic functions, transfer the country to their children, as another asset", said Kolesnikov.

The existing matrix of the "barin-lackey" format, as experts believe, has once again put its roots in the public consciousness, and it is extremely problematic to break out of this vicious circle. This current system of "dynastic state capitalism" is, with rare exceptions, fueled by the established political regime, the economic elites, the academic elites, and by the population itself. A good example for the dynastic succession is the majority of children of major politicians, officials, and administrators whose offsprings, without applying any kind of special effort, become successful officials, law enforcement chiefs, judges, heads of state-owned corporations and state banks, etc. In this sense, the political and economic power in Russia is inherited, and the members of the top classes already view themselves as an aristocratic layer of society - the highest silovik-protected caste that is allowed a lot more than permitted to the lowly crowd.

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