the main defendant in the cocaine case at the Russian embassy was recruited by the FSB and smuggled drugs to Russia from Argentina for years

According to the material of the Dossier Center, Kovalchuk was recruited by the FSB in 2014 while trying to get a consignment of drugs from one of the European countries, presumably the Netherlands, where the businessman lived before moving to Germany. Drugs were smuggled under the guise of a batch of flowers.

Also, according to the authors of the investigation, who cite their own sources, since the moment of recruitment, Kovalchuk has managed to transport drugs at least 10 times on special planes, including the one used by the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev.

On January 20, Kovalchuk received 18 years in a strict regime colony, three other defendants – from 13 to 17 years. As the lawyer of one of the defendants, Ishtimir Khudzhamov, Leonid Kozak, told The Insider, most of them should be acquitted, since the investigation did not provide evidence of anyone’s guilt.

According to Kozak, the FSB was not active in identifying the customer and producer of the 400-kilogram batch of cocaine. Could not find the ends and the Argentine gendarmerie. “All four were actually victims of a big drug game,” the lawyer told The Insider. – There are more than enough grounds for appealing the verdict, and we will appeal. As far as I know, at the time of publication, the Dossier Center could not have all the materials of the case, we will look. As for the recruitment of Kovalchuk, I can’t comment on it.”

The lawyer noted that Kovalchuk did not have the financial means to buy such a huge and expensive consignment of cocaine, which was previously estimated at $11 million.

“In addition, an FSB officer Malyarevsky was interrogated, who bluntly stated that Kovalchuk was a white man in Latin America, “if he had dealt with drugs there, especially cocaine, he would have immediately called the gendarmerie.”

The only arrested employee of the Russian embassy was the supply manager Ali Abyanov. The Russian side stated that Abyanov was dismissed from the embassy on August 16, 2016. How he was then able to transfer the cargo to the school adjacent to the embassy in December is unclear.

“And no one still cares that the first two suitcases of cocaine were taken by the first security adviser to the ambassador Shelepov, and it was he who handed them over to the embassy,” says Kozak. – Shelepov was not in the dock, where he is unknown. He is a witness, but we were not even allowed to interrogate him in court. These were the two largest suitcases. He allegedly neglected security issues and accepted the suitcases without checking their contents. That is, he handed them over to a specially protected facility – the Russian Embassy in Argentina. When entering the embassy, ​​even mobile phones are handed over, not to mention suitcases with unknown contents. It’s ridiculous to just say these four are smugglers.”

According to the lawyer, the defense will appeal the verdict to the European Court of Human Rights.

“Unfortunately, the side of the defense faced a fairly massive, large opponent – the state itself, represented by huge structures – the prosecutor’s office, the FSB, the police, the court and others. We do not lose faith and focus on the ECtHR – this is the place where we will look for the truth,” Kozak said.

The Insider also reviewed both Argentinean and Russian case files. Results investigations allow us to discard the last doubts: the Russian ambassador and other high-ranking diplomats were active organizers of the cocaine drug trafficking, and the Russian authorities actively opposed the punishment of those responsible, ignoring the evidence, obstructing the investigation and organizing hacker attacks.