What are Strelkov's alleged crimes? That's a state secret
The criminal case against Strelkov was classified because it involves "state secrets"
Former DNR defense minister and (ex?) FSB officer Igor Strelkov is sitting in a Moscow prison cell as he awaits his September 18 trial.
But don’t expect any updates about the criminal case against him—because that’s classified information, buddy:
On Wednesday, August 2, it became known that [FSB] investigators classified the investigation of the criminal case initiated against the former head of the DPR Ministry of Defense Igor Strelkov (Girkin).
Strelkov’s lawyer, Alexander Molokhov, noted that the classified nature of the case was the only thing he could say about it. “Article 283 of the Criminal Code [which prohibits the disclosure of state secrets. — RBC] is a serious matter,” Molokhov added. The lawyer declined to comment further on the case, citing an order on the non-disclosure of information constituting a state secret.
“Nobody tells us [why the criminal case was classified], because it is a state secret, it is a thing in itself. Why? This question is not for me. Yes, it’s true, [the case was classified]—and I can't tell you more than that. This is serious, you can’t joke about it,” Strelkov’s lawyer told News.ru.
Here’s what we do know:
The investigation is reportedly being led by the FSB.
The official reason for Strelkov’s arrest is that Dmitry Petrovsky, a Yaroslavl surgeon and ex-employee of PMC Wagner, filed a complaint with the Prosecutor General’s Office after Strelkov wrote unflattering things about Vladimir Putin on his Telegram channel. (There are various reasons why this story is a bit dubious, the most obvious being that Strelkov has been semi-regularly saying highly suggestive things about Putin’s leadership capabilities for at least a year now.)
Strelkov—who demanded Prigozhin’s arrest after Wagner’s “March on Moscow”—is behind bars for classified reasons, while Prigozhin is a free man, and is even allowed to hang out with powerful Africans in St. Petersburg, even after his private army shot Russian pilots out of the sky.
There’s a lesson here, somewhere.
In Russia, the unspoken rule used to be that you could speak more or less freely, (you wouldn't even be cancelled like in the US) but you had to keep away from politics.
Strelkov's arrest seems to have broken this unspoken rule. Now we are in uncharted territory. What are we allowed to say or not say anymore? What is the line that we cannot cross? No one knows.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin has made sure to involve the oligarchs in the war effort so they can make a buck or two:
How Russian Billionaires Provide Mercenaries to the Russian Army
Oleg Deripaska, Leonid Mikhelson, Gennady Timchenko, and other businessmen recruit volunteers for the war on salaries. In the meantime, their businesses, which is involved in this — Rusal, Novatek, PIK, Mospromstroy — successfully avoid sanctions
https://istories.media/en/stories/2023/08/01/billionaires-mercenaries/
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