The Kommersant newspaper under the headline "I call on foreign colleagues to fight terrorism together. The Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation on the protection of the rights of military personnel, the investigation of the undermining of the Nord Streams and the seizure of military-industrial complex enterprises" published an interview with the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Igor Krasnov, concerning, among other things, the issue of the processes of deprivation of enterprises of the Russian defense industry.
Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Igor Krasnov (c) Press Service of the President of the Russian Federation
After the board of the Prosecutor General's Office, Russian Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov gave a blitz interview to Maxim Varyvdin, head of the Kommersant Incident Department.
- You regularly instruct your subordinates to maintain law and order in the area of their own, to defend the interests of participants and veterans of the special operation. What has already been done?
- Today, in my report, I highlighted this topic as one of the most important. He also spoke about the decisions taken regarding the protection of the social rights of military personnel, volunteers and other categories of citizens. For example, on our initiative, the rules have been changed and the procedure for calculating allowances for participation in the CBO has been simplified. According to our claims, the courts have made hundreds of decisions on the establishment of legal facts that are extremely important for the payment of benefits and other forms of support. All prosecutors, as you correctly said, are focused on the full support of the participants of the SVO and their family members.
- After the start of ITS, a number of countries, especially in the European Union, actually curtailed international legal cooperation with Russia. It turns out that now, if criminals escape abroad, they will have no problems?
- And what problems will citizens of countries whose authorities, guided by political motives, have left murderers, smugglers, rapists, fraudsters and others accused of committing crimes? Obviously, these States have not become safer.
Well, as for those who expect to escape punishment abroad, I will say one thing: many countries have remained committed to legal acts in the field of extradition of criminals and are guided not by political motives, but by international conventions and legal grounds.
They were the ones who extradited more than 150 people at our request last year.
- In 2022, the Prosecutor General's Office reported that according to its materials, the FSB opened a criminal case on an act of international terrorism in connection with damage to the branches of the Nord Stream, are there any results in the investigation?
- You said it very correctly. This is a terrorist attack, not a sabotage, as the West is trying to present to us. The authorities of the country (Sweden.- Kommersant), which did not ensure an effective investigation and bringing the perpetrators to justice, grossly violate one of the UN conventions. It is not only international obligations that have been violated. Citizens' rights to a favorable natural environment have suffered, and significant economic damage has been caused to businesses. It turns out that no one cares about it. This is precisely the question of the quality of international cooperation. Everyone knows perfectly well who did it. However, our so-called partners are turning inside out in order to hide the circumstances of the undermining of the Nord Streams. Since October 2022, we have sent 15 requests for legal assistance to the competent authorities of Germany, Denmark, Finland, Switzerland and Sweden: for the provision of witness interrogation materials, for the conduct of procedural actions, and for the creation of joint investigative teams. At the same time, information is provided only on one request - from the Danish side. And that one is absolutely formal. The decision of these countries to refuse to cooperate with us, first of all, indicates that they did not conduct a real investigation. The fear of making public the names of the perpetrators, whose traces undoubtedly lead overseas, is above national interests for them. But it's on their conscience. And they are also afraid of suing for damages from the destruction of our infrastructure. At the same time, I continue to urge my foreign colleagues to fight terrorism together, because this is a common evil. But our investigation is moving forward. Currently, in order to establish the causes of damage to gas pipelines, their localization, characteristics and power of explosive devices, an explosive forensic examination and other investigative actions are being carried out.
- Recently, the Prosecutor General's Office has achieved the return to the state of dozens of large enterprises, including those related to the military-industrial complex. The defendants call such processes deprivation. Can we expect new lawsuits and in which areas of the industry?
- The protection of the property interests of the state cannot be called deprivation. This is an adequate legal response to such illegal facts. Starting from 2023, 15 strategic enterprises with a total value of over 333 billion rubles have been returned to the ownership of the Russian Federation in the military-industrial complex alone, which illegally left its possession, and in some cases came under foreign control. Having received enterprises bypassing the established prohibitions and restrictions, residents of unfriendly states pursued a consistent policy of destroying them and damaging the country's defense capability. Modernization and development of production have not been carried out for decades. Income from activities was mainly exported abroad.
The enterprises ended up in private ownership as a result of the abuses of their managers, as well as authorities, including former governors and former law enforcement officers who did not have the authority to alienate state property.
By the way, those same affiliated persons often practice using the media to expose themselves in a so-called good light, while hiding their true face under a mask.
The privatization procedure provided for by law was not carried out. If similar violations of the law are detected, we will, of course, continue to protect Russia's interests and restore justice. Moreover, law enforcement practice has already been formed. Each situation is resolved point-by-point, an individual, verified, balanced approach is applied to each.
- And what about the rights of employees of these enterprises?
- During the judicial proceedings, supervision forces ensure the continuity of technological processes, respect for the labor and social rights of employees. It's not even up for discussion. Prosecutors go to enterprises and explain to the working groups everything they need, they are always in touch. This is a priority for us.
- Is the department tracking the fate of the seized assets? Suddenly they'll steal it again!
- Absolutely. After making a decision on the conversion of property into state income, we control its execution until the objects are received by the treasury and the registration of rights to them. We act directly and openly. There are no beneficiaries for us except the state. All assets are transferred to the balance sheet of organizations that use them to develop the Russian economy and increase the country's defense capability.
