The case of “Argentine cocaine” in the Russian Federation: defendants sentenced to long terms | News from Germany about Russia | DW

by time news

The Dorogomilovsky District Court of Moscow on Thursday, January 20, on the basis of a jury verdict, sentenced four accused of smuggling cocaine from Argentina to Russia and Europe to long prison terms. The key defendant in the criminal case, businessman Andrei Kovalchuk, who was recognized as the organizer of the traffic, was sentenced to 18 years in a strict regime colony. He must pay a fine of 1.8 million rubles. His lawyer Sergei Yurosh told Interfax that the verdict would be appealed.

Kovalchuk’s accomplices Ali Abyanov, Vladimir Kalmykov and Ishtimir Khudzhamov were sentenced to 17 years (1.6 million rubles fine), 16 years (1 million rubles) and 13 years (900 thousand rubles) respectively. The court found all four guilty of attempted drug smuggling, as well as attempted illegal production, sale or shipment of drugs on an especially large scale.

The second part of the investigation by the Dossier Center, published on the same day, states that Andrey Kovalchuk could have been recruited by Russian security forces to smuggle drugs back in 2014 – he used diplomatic passports, documents were issued by employees of the 1st service of the FSB. The investigation did not establish either sellers or customers of cocaine, and the court also did not interrogate the FSB officers who were witnesses in the case.

“The Cocaine Affair”

In February 2018, it became known that in December 2016, 12 suitcases with cocaine were found in a school on the territory of the Russian Embassy in Argentina, the total weight of which was almost 390 kilograms. Its cost was estimated at $50 million. In November 2017, a criminal case on drug smuggling was opened in Russia in connection with the incident.

Argentine law enforcement agencies believed that employees of the Russian embassy were involved in the drug trade. It was also assumed that the liner of the Rossiya special squad, which transports top officials of the Russian state, was involved in the supply of drugs.

Three suspects in the case – Vladimir Kalmykov, Ishtimir Khudzhamov and Ali Abyanov – were taken into custody in Moscow, and the key defendant, the alleged organizer of cocaine smuggling to Russia through the Russian embassy in Argentina, Andrey Kovalchuk, was detained in March 2018 in a suburb of Berlin, several months he was extradited to Moscow and placed under arrest.

In mid-December, jurors found the four defendants guilty, but considered that they all deserved leniency.

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