The last time I spoke with him was in 2010. As you can imagine, after the "Kirovles case," I have no friendly, cordial, or any other warm feelings toward him.
Nikita himself refused to testify against me personally, even though he was under heavy pressure, but this whole case was only possible because of the regional administration’s official position as well. They were clearly uncomfortable, but still kept repeating, "we acknowledge the damages." On top of that, we asked them a million times to help obtain documents from Kirovles that would have made the defense easier, but to no avail.
And then recently, when Belykh, trying to curry favor with the Presidential Administration (the Kremlin’s domestic political office), took part in the coordinated "ruin Navalny" campaign and, three years after the trial, filed a lawsuit against me and Ofitserov for 16 million rubles (about 16 million rubles; roughly $250,000 at the time), which of course was granted instantly in a single hearing, I lost any remaining illusions I had about him.
Nevertheless, everything I know about Belykh makes me view his detention yesterday with great surprise. I don’t know any of the people whose names are being mentioned and am speaking purely hypothetically, but it is extremely hard for me to imagine Belykh taking a bribe like this. In cash. In a Moscow restaurant.
And on top of that, his fingers glow under ultraviolet light—what, was he sitting there in Lotte Plaza counting €100 bills?
That is really nothing like him.
Even at this stage, I would like to see a fully open process with clear and understandable charges. No secret witnesses, closed hearings, or anything like that. As of now, it is not even clear who gave the bribe or what mysterious intermediary received the first part of it. All we have are photographs of stacks of cash and press releases.
We have already seen the case of Yaroslavl mayor Urlashov, where there was talk of money, wiretaps, and video. And what came of it? He has spent three years in pretrial detention (SIZO, a Russian remand prison), and we still have not seen any of the supposedly ironclad evidence that was announced—neither during the investigation nor in court.
Update.
They are reporting that Belykh does not deny receiving the money. That is very unfortunate, if true. In this situation, all I can do is wish Nikita and his family strength to get through the difficult ordeal ahead.