Blinov, who was arrested in Poland on suspicion of organizing an attack on Volkov, moved around Europe using a fake Latvian passport issued in the name of a non-citizen living in Liepāja who has been punished several times, Latvian Television’s program “de facto” reported on Sunday.
The program has investigated that the fake Latvian passport was issued in 2017 in the name of a non-citizen of Latvia, Sergej Šturba. “de facto” made sure that the passport data is real, except for the picture in which Blinov can be seen instead of Šturba.
Madara Puķe, the press representative of the Directorate of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, stated to the LETA agency that after receiving the information, the administration immediately made sure, in accordance with its competence, that the particular passport was issued correctly, and clarified that during the issuance, no inconsistencies or deficiencies were found in the process of issuing passports.
Dimitrijs Trofimov, State Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior, told the program that “the State Police will take all necessary measures to investigate the possible fact of falsification of documents”. He admits that the investigation will require cooperation with Poland, where Blinov is currently in custody.
At the moment, it was not possible to get a comment from the State Police Agency LETA.
LETA already reported that Blinov was detained on September 13 in Poland, where he was charged with organizing the beating of Leonid Volkov on March 12.
The prosecutor of the Mazovia branch of the State Prosecutor’s Office’s Department for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption brought three charges against him, including a charge of beating Russian oppositionist Volkov because of his nationality and political activities.
Several more people were detained in the following months. Currently, there are eight suspects in the investigation, four of whom have been given a preventive measure in the form of temporary detention. The suspects include six Poles, one Belarusian and one Russian.
On March 12, Leonid Volkov was attacked near his home in Vilnius. When the politician arrived there in his car, an unknown person attacked him, sprayed tear gas and started beating Volkov with a hammer. After the attack, the politician was taken to the hospital with a broken arm and several bruises on his leg.
On September 12, the Foundation for Combating Corruption (FBK) published the results of its investigation, according to which the attack on Volkov was ordered by a businessman living in Israel, a former representative of the management of the oil company “Yukos” Nevzlin.
2024-10-01 00:16:36