Maria Laura Avignolo
05/10/2020 - 18:59
Clarín.com
Politics
In Argentina the case had been filed deep in the memory of a few.
But the French newspaper
Le Monde
told on Monday the dark process in Russia for the discovery of 400 kilos of cocaine in the embassy of that country in Buenos Aires two years ago and how far the questions go without answering.
The story was related by Benoit Vikine, his Moscow correspondent.
According to the account of Benoit Vikine, correspondent for Le Monde in Moscow, after the initial stupor, a process so discreet was followed that
the court case was treated secretly
in Moscow in March this year.
Next week, the local trial with the two alleged Argentine accomplices should start in Buenos Aires.
It all started in February 2018, when the then Minister of Security Patricia Bullrich announced the dismantling of a network of drug traffickers that operated from the Russian embassy in Buenos Aires.
As a result of the 14-month cooperation between the two countries, six individuals were also arrested: four Russians and two Argentines.
The drug had been found in 12 suitcases containing
389 kilos of almost pure cocaine worth US $ 50 million
.
The bags, which were ready to "travel" had been registered as "diplomatic bags" to avoid customs controls.
Before the discovery, at least three shipments had managed to leave Argentina under that status.
Secret process in Moscow
The bags traveled like "diplomatic bags" to avoid customs.
"The process was opened two years later in Moscow, under extraordinary discretion," says the French newspaper.
"Supposedly it should allow answers to so many questions: how the mayor of the embassy, the only member of the diplomatic staff detained and tried, could ensure logistics without being flagged" asks Le Monde.
"Lost time.
It seems that
the mysteries of Buenos Aires must remain unanswered
”, writes the correspondent in Moscow.
The Russian media do not make even the slightest mention of the case and the process was behind closed doors, a feature that is only allowed when there are minors, state secrets or sexual crimes.
"The lawyers also chose the low profile," describes Le Monde.
They are content to put forward "procedural errors that make prosecution impossible."
And he details: "The fact that the drug has been destroyed prematurely;
that the main defendant - a complicated character named Andrei Kovaltchouck - was extradited from Germany when he was not a Russian national;
that the Russian investigation will mention different dates on the day the drug was discovered, and that the amounts of the drug will also vary. "
The other investigation
Ivan Blizniouk.
Deputy Inspector of the City Police since 2013, he was arrested for cocaine trafficking through the Russian embassy in Argentina.
"In this sad landscape, an investigation conducted by the American site The Daily Beast and Dossier, a research outlet funded by the Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovski, shows that the investigations conducted in the two countries leave
a number of disturbing questions
" says Le Monde .
"At the very least, these documents suggest an
unprecedented level of
research
incompetence
," writes The Daily Beast.
"In the worst case, they design the darkest image of a coordinated simulation, over the two hemispheres, to protect the responsibilities of officers, or characters in the highest positions in the food chain in Russia," says the same publication.
The questions that are being asked are how the investigators immediately detained the two people who came to recover the cargo in the diplomatic premises in Moscow, without looking for their real bosses.
These two men are part of the four defendants in the Russian trial, plus the mayor of the Embassy, Ali Abianov, and the alleged mastermind, Andrei Kovaltchouk.
"On the Argentine side, the origin of the drug, marked with the emblem of a Mexican cartel, was not investigated," says Le Monde.
"Nor the funds with which Kovaltchocuk could have obtained such a quantity of cocaine," he adds.
Who is Kovalchouck?
“The personality of this 51-year-old man, a Berlin resident until his extradition, is in the spotlight.
A known trafficker, he presents himself throughout his career under different identities, claiming most of the time that he
works for the Russian intelligence services
”, relates Le Monde.
"This claim is unverifiable, but the fact is that Andrei Kovaltchouck appears to benefit from protection at high levels within the Moscow foreign ministry," the newspaper says.
The article in the French newspaper about the trial in Moscow for the kidnapping of 400 kilos of cocaine in the Russian Embassy in Argentina
“The man was a
regular visitor to the Russian embassy in Buenos Aires
, without anyone, not even the person in charge of security, officially thinking of verifying his identity.
Their suitcases have been able to be deposited for long months and at different times, without anyone asking the slightest question, "says Le Monde.
According to the version advanced by the Russian investigation, the drug was discovered after routine verifications in 2016 and the decision was made to alert the Argentines.
The documents obtained by Dossier contradict the version of the ambassador, who claims that he had not crossed Kovaltchouck more than once.
In an eavesdropping, carried out by the Argentine police, the two presumed Argentine accomplices in trafficking are heard evoking "a dispute" between the ambassador and Kovalchouck.
Even after the verdict, this affair is likely to remain a mystery.
In Dossier, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former Russian oligarch who Vladimir Putin condemned and pardoned, concludes: “This story is bad for Russia wherever you take it.
Or
our special services and our diplomats are not competent enough
to prevent a first thief from transforming an embassy into a 'hub' for drug trafficking.
Or
the system is so rotten
that he organizes the traffic himself and hires thieves to cover himself. "
Instead of being punished, the Russian ambassadors of the time were promoted
.
The then ambassador, Viktor Koronelli, is in charge of the Russian Embassy in Mexico.
The head of security, Oleg Vorobiev, is the first secretary at the Russian embassy in Madrid.
Finally, the head of the Latin American department in the Russian Foreign Ministry and part of Kovaltchouck's old contacts, Piotr Polchikov, committed suicide three weeks after the discovery of the drug.
In Argentina, the process of the two alleged accomplices, including a former police officer, must begin on October 8.