Our man has given a long self-justifying interview to the newspaper Izvestia. Or rather, the “journalists” of the “newspaper” Izvestia published on their pages a lengthy press release written by Bastrykin’s subordinates in response to my post “about the real foreign agents.” Well then, let’s read the press release too. — Why does the country’s chief investigator need an apartment in Prague? Why did you buy it in the first place? — It was purchased, I believe, in 2000, when I was not yet a civil servant, but a professor at the Northwestern branch of the Russian Law Academy. I bought it in installments — I made payments for two years (starting in 1998). If I remember correctly, it cost $67,000. — What was the purpose of the purchase? — Honestly, I had plans to become a visiting professor — I wanted to work in Europe. At that time I had many academic connections — at Charles University, the Sorbonne, the University of Bonn, and in the UK. Back then I traveled around Europe a lot, and Prague is very convenient in that respect. You arrive in Prague and you’re in the center of Europe. From that city, wherever I needed to go, it was a 1.5-hour flight. At that moment I had absolutely no thought that I would return to government service and take such a high post. .... — So did you have, or do you still have, a residence permit? — No. I only have a visa, not a residence permit. I want to stress that. .... — Did you receive any profit from owning the property? Did the company registered in your name conduct business? — I was not engaged in any business. What is commercial activity? It is activity aimed at making a profit. If they find even €1 in profit, I will resign. Write it exactly like this: if Mr. Navalny and Mr. Khinshtein find even €1 in profit, I will resign. It is easy to prove. They obtained all the documents very easily except one: the income declarations. Just as they obtained all those documents, they can just as easily go to the relevant institutions, to the Czech tax authorities, and get my declarations for every year starting from 2000, when I bought the apartment there. Terrible. Simply terrible. I don’t know which intelligence service prepared Agent Bastrykin to work as a “mole” in the highest circles of Russian power, but they came up with a pretty lousy cover story. Or else Agent Bastrykin is being protected by some higher-ranking “mole” from foreign intelligence, and he is not too worried about being exposed—because the case will never be allowed to proceed. So, Agent B’s defense is: I’m a great scholar and was invited to work in Europe I bought the apartment when I was not yet a civil servant I had not a residence permit, but a visa. I was not engaged in business activity; if you find even one euro, I’ll resign. Let’s break it down: as for the great scholar — hahaha, sure. We’ll need some time to send inquiries to those very “Charles University, the Sorbonne, and the University of Bonn” to find out whether there were ever any negotiations at all about inviting him as a visiting professor. I don’t think anyone in their right mind would believe that such a ridiculous peacock could have been invited to the Sorbonne. But fine, we’ll leave that question hanging for now and check it, though it is not especially important. I bought the apartment when I was not a civil servant. This is now the main line of defense being pushed by the state media and the assorted hacks around them. Our český špion (Czech spy) Bastrykin is lying in a particularly stupid way: From the very beginning we published an extract from the property register for Bastrykin’s company LAW BOHEMIA dated 17.07.2012. Let’s look at the second page:
The words “Smlouva kupni ze dne 29.09.2004” quite plainly suggest exactly what they say: “purchase agreement dated 29.09.2004.” Now let’s go to the developer’s website. Here it is, even available in Russian: http://www.finep.cz/ru/ We go to “completed projects,” look for the Trojsky vrch development we’re interested in, and find:
Let me remind you of Agent Bastrykin’s version: I bought it in installments — I made payments for two years (starting in 1998). So, he’s lying. I want to warn Agent B right away that he should not replace one false statement with another and start claiming that he “bought the apartment at the pre-project stage six years before the building was completed,” or something like that. That is easy to verify. Want more proof? No problem: the Czech Republic is an open and transparent country. We obtain the record log from the property cadastre. a) go here: http://nahlizenidokn.cuzk.cz/VyberRizeni.aspx b) in the field Číslo řízení, enter 39357 and change the year from “2012” to “2004” c) we get the records for this property:
The building was completed in 2004, and Bastrykin’s purchase agreement is from 2004. And from 2001 onward, Alexander_Troitsky_Vrsh_Bastrykin was already a civil servant and engaged in nothing else. 3) I had not a residence permit, but a visa. Well, at this point even the pro-regime Nashi activists (members of a Kremlin-backed youth movement) have stopped trying to convince us of that:
https://twitter.com/KrisPotupchik/status/228773215676276736 The Czech Interior Ministry and Foreign Ministry confirmed that Bastrykin did in fact have a residence permit in the Czech Republic, so there is nothing more to discuss here. He’s lying, the spy-faced mug (quote). 4) I was not engaged in business activity; if you find even one euro, I will resign. Funny, because I never claimed that Bastrykin was engaged in business activity in the Czech Republic. Of course not—people like Bastrykin make their money here not through business activity, but through corruption and bribes, and then rush to obtain a residence permit in another country so they can spend their cash there in peace and safety. A case opened for money / a case closed for money. That’s the whole business model. Still, I didn’t put those words in Agent Bastrykin’s mouth, but that one euro is easy to find: first: In response, Bastrykin stated that he did not own a business abroad and would resign if “even one euro of profit” were found (it is worth noting that the currency in the Czech Republic is the koruna). Meanwhile, the Czech koruna strengthened significantly against the euro between 1999 and 2008, when Bastrykin owned the company Law Bohemia. Bastrykin sold his 50 percent stake in the company for 50,000 koruna. According to the official exchange rate, on the day the company was founded that amount was equal to 1,385.92 euros, and on the day the stake was sold, 2,066.63 euros. Thus, it turns out that Bastrykin sold half the company at a profit—680.71 euros. http://lenta.ru/news/2012/07/28/navalny/ second: utility bills for the apartment were paid regularly starting in 2004. The company must have paid them from its account. Which means there was money in that account, and it got there somehow. We await Bastrykin’s resignation. He did promise. Let me also remind you that under Federal Law No. 2202-I of January 17, 1992, “On the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation”: Part 5, Article 4: Employees of the prosecutor’s office may not combine their primary work with any other paid or unpaid activity, except teaching, academic, or other creative work. At the same time, teaching, academic, and other creative work may not be financed exclusively from the funds of foreign states, international and foreign organizations, foreign citizens, or stateless persons, unless otherwise provided by an international treaty of the Russian Federation or by the legislation of the Russian Federation. Employees of the prosecutor’s office may not serve on governing bodies, boards of trustees or supervisory boards, or other bodies of foreign non-commercial non-governmental organizations and their structural subdivisions operating in the territory of the Russian Federation, unless otherwise provided by an international treaty of the Russian Federation or by the legislation of the Russian Federation. During the period when Bastrykin was Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation and later First Deputy Prosecutor General and head of the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor’s Office, he was the executive director of the Czech company LAW Bohemia. And here is something else interesting about Bastrykin’s wife and the “earned 1 euro” claim. In sum: the lies of foreign agent Bastrykin have been exposed by 98%. The lie about how he was “invited to foreign universities” will be exposed very soon as well. I suggest that citizen Bastrykin resign immediately, turn himself in to our Anti-Corruption Foundation, and give a full confession. I call on all honest citizens to go to http://foreignagent.mashina.org/, print out the leaflet there, and tell their apartment-building neighbors about Agent Bastrykin. Bastrykin’s vile crook-cheerleaders are blocking this site in some regions; in that case, the leaflet can be found here.