El Mundo Article 3.5.16.rtf

https://www.elmundo.es/espana/2016/05/03/57279e9e468aeb2a568b4589.html

Spain orders arrest of charges close to Putin for his ties to the mafia

The Gennadios Petrov mafia boss, at the time of his arrest in Mallorca in 2008

The judge considers that a general and a former deputy prime minister, among others, work for the mafia

The National Court has issued an international arrest warrant against several Russian citizens linked to mafia-like plots, including members of Vladimir Putin's circle of power. Judge Jos\'e9 de la Mata, who investigates the Mafiosi groups Tambovskaya and Malyshevskaya, points out that each one of the defendants "is accused of serious acts". On the list are a general and a former deputy prime minister, among others.

In its brief on accusations, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor has already denounced in its time the close connections of many of the defendants with the spheres of power of the Russian president, both in the political, economic, judicial and military spheres.

The framework in which the request of the National High Court has been filed is the Troika operation, developed in 2008 against the main Eastern European mafia plots: the Tambovskaya, directed by Gennadios Petrov, and the Malyshevskaya, controlled by Alexander Malyshev. The two capos were arrested in the operation along with a score of people, but in the long investigation the extent of the mafia network and its reach in the spheres of power of Russia have been revealed.

One of the most important names whose arrest has ordered Judge De la Mata is Vladislav Matusovich Reznik, considered an essential piece of the plot of influence that weaved Gennadios Petrov. Reznik has been president of the Parliamentary Commission of Credit Institutions and Financial Markets of the Duma and member of the National Council of Banks in Russia. All a heavyweight in the financial and political world of Russia, in the sphere of power closest to Putin.

According to the arrest warrant written by the magistrate of the National High Court, Reznik "performs as many activities as necessary, legal or illegal (traffic of influences, privileged information, etc.), before the highest authorities in Russia in favor of the interests of Petrov and from the organization to the subordinate. " "The relationship between Petrov and Reznik is also of an economic nature, both in Spain and in Russia," says the judge. Next to his, an international arrest warrant has been issued against his wife, Diana Gindin.

Another of the claimed by the Hearing is Nikolai Nikolaevich Aulov, general head of the General Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior of Russia, in the central federal district. The leaders of the mafia plots used this high command of security "to carry out negotiations in the highest administrative bodies of Russia," according to the judge's letter. "Aulov uses his power and has people he trusts to carry out acts of intimidation or threats against certain people who try to harm Petrov," the main leader of the network.

In the telephone interventions carried out by the investigators and included in the case, General Aulov informed his boss that he often obtained "secret information regarding the investigation".

Along with this high command of the Russian security has been ordered arrest against the man who acted as liaison with him, Leonid Khristoforov.

The list of prominent figures of the political elite of Russia that are claimed by the National Court continues with Igor Sobolevsky, one of the names most demanded by the Spanish Justice. According to the judge detailed in his letter, this alleged member of the criminal plot was deputy prime minister in the general direction in charge of the instruction of causes of special gravity; a senior official of the Russian Prosecutor's Office, therefore, "who maintains communication and exchange of favors with Petrov."

The judge gives as an example the link between this high office of the Russian Prosecutor and the Mafia boss to ensure that "this relationship is a clear reference of what has been proven throughout the criminal investigation of the present case: the criminal organization subordinate to Petrov has achieved a clear penetration in the estates of the State of his country.

According to De la Mata, Sobolevsky informed Petrov "about the actions that the Security Forces are taking against organized crime." "He knows perfectly the circle of political friendships with which Petrov is related. He acts as an intermediary or uses his influence to get certain people to occupy positions in which he is interested. It offers Petrov sensitive information related to the Security Forces ", lists the arrest warrant.

The actions of the judge have come to confirm what the Prosecutor's Office maintained: that Petrov and Malyshev, the two capos detained in the Troika operation, had a great level of influence and control in Russia. They had contacts among high-ranking ministers, judges and military and with many of them the relationships were of intense friendship. The most penetrated level was the judicial one.

In its letter, the Public Ministry stated that the activities carried out were, among others: murder, arms trafficking, extortion, fraud, documentary falsification, influence peddling, bribery, prohibited negotiations, contraband, drug trafficking, crimes against the Treasury. Public, fraudulent decapitalization of societies, beatings by order and threats.

Among the most important people with whom Petrov was related was Anatoli Serdiukov, Minister of Defense between 2007 and 2012 and son-in-law of former Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov. Zubkov himself would have favored the Petrov organization with some political decisions, according to the investigation.

Other names related to the mafia are Dmitri Kozak, who has been head of the Ministry of Regional Development of Russia, or Leonid Reiman, former Minister of Information Technology and Communications, who is a Petrov partner in a company.