In their latest film, the Anti-Corruption Foundation, founded by Aleksei Navalny, focuses on the assault suffered by their Lithuanian activist comrade Leonid Volkov. The film makes very serious and disturbing allegations about the Latvian prosecutor’s office.
Navalny’s associates claim in the film to have received emails from Leonid Nevzlin, a businessman and former top executive of the Russian oil giant Yukos. It shows that Nevzlin was the ordering party for the attack on politician Leonid Volkov in Vilnius in March 2024.
Also, according to the correspondence, the Anti-Corruption Foundation claims that Nevzlin was involved in organizing the attacks on the Foundation’s director Ivan Zhdanov in Geneva and on the wife of economist Maxim Mironov, Alexandra Petrachkova, in Argentina.
According to Maria Pevchih, head of Anti-Corruption Foundation, they received an offer to tell about the attack on Volkov at the Foundation’s common email address. In a conversation with Pevchycha, the source of this information identified himself as Andrei Matus.
The film is mostly about the struggle of the Russian opposition to Vladimir Putin, which is mainly related to the events and persons involved in Russia, but at one point the film also makes very serious, insulting statements towards the Latvian prosecutor’s office.
The Anti-Corruption Foundation mentions in the film that Nevzlin “bribed” the former Anti-Corruption Foundation Executive Director Vladimir Ashurkov to open a criminal case against him. The case, according to Anti-Corruption Foundation as yet unconfirmed allegations, is being pursued in Riga.
At one point, screenshots of allegedly leaked Anti-Corruption Foundation correspondence from Nevzlin are shown. They show individuals sharing “Baltic pricing” in their own handwriting. For example, a criminal case against one or two persons costs 50 000.
Aiga Eiduka, press secretary of the Latvian Prosecutor’s Office, confirmed to LETA that the Prosecutor’s Office is aware of a publicly available documentary which alleges, among other things, that the team of former Yukos co-owner Mikhail Khodorkovsky allegedly bribed Latvian police officers and prosecutors to open criminal cases against Russian opposition activists. The prosecutor’s office will not provide information before assessing the allegations made in the documentary.
The Public Relations Department of the State Police, however, points out that the State Police is aware of the documentary and the allegations made in it, which also concern the police: “We categorically reject the allegations made about the possible corruption of police officers. Pending an assessment by the competent authorities, the National Police will refrain from further comment.”