Novosibirsk deputy on the conflict around the diaspora and a traffic police officer

Novosibirsk City Council Deputy Rostislav Antonov told PolitNavigator details of the resonant conflict, where representatives of the diaspora of one of the southern republics threatened to storm the police department, promising reprisal to a traffic police officer who fatally wounded their fellow tribesman while detaining a car driver who refused to comply with the inspector’s demand to stop the car.

Dossier: Rostislav Antonov is a professional historian and journalist. By conviction he is a Russian patriot. Participated in the referendum in Crimea in 2014. With the outbreak of the war in Donbass, he and his comrades organized the supply of humanitarian aid to the warring republics. I wrote a statement to the Prosecutor General’s Office with a request to check the unconstitutional statements of Ksenia Sobchak regarding the status of Crimea, but received a reply. Publicly supported amendments to the Russian Constitution.

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"PolitNavigator": A resonant story occurred in the region - the village of Moshkovo. How did you start doing it??

Rostislav Antonov: I have not been in this story from the very beginning, and, to be honest, I missed the very beginning. Yes, an incident happened, I somehow tracked it out of the corner of my eye, but since for a long time there was no specific information about what was going on in Moshkovo... Well, yes, there was an incident, it’s unpleasant that the young man died, but it’s impossible to react to everything, and not costs. However, a few days later, voters called me back with the question: “What is happening in our district, why are the Azerbaijanis holding a rally?” And then for the first time I thought: “What is going on?”

I started to figure it out. The first thing that outraged me was that it turns out that none of the representatives of law enforcement agencies or authorities even approached the Azerbaijanis who were carrying out the street action. A fairly large group of people with photographs of some guy stands together, then they make a car rally around the city - more than a dozen cars participate, and neither the traffic police officers nor the police react to this circumstance in any way.

To make it clear: if I now come out with a poster... Well, let’s say you come to visit me, and you and I will hold a picket on Lenin Square - we will be closed. Because there are coronavirus restrictions, and the city authorities do not approve a single picket based on them. We already had precedents in the city when criminal cases were initiated based on similar precedents. For example, there is a woman who pickets every Saturday in defense of Furgal. I don’t know why this is so important for her, a resident of Novosibirsk, but here she stands every Saturday. I don’t undertake to evaluate her position; by the way, she has three children, and a criminal case was opened against her. For these pickets.

And then a certain group of people, many of whose members are probably not citizens of Russia, calmly goes into the center of Novosibirsk. It should be noted that, according to current legislation, if a non-Russian citizen participates in an unauthorized protest, he should be deported with a ban on entry to us for five years. And under such an excellent set of circumstances, the picket and motor rally took place without any interference. A reasonable question arises: in our country, is there some kind of special legal regime for a certain group of people? Why do I have less rights than them? Despite the fact that I am a member of the City Council?

I think you are not the only one who has had this question.

Yes. I started to figure it out further, why did the Azerbaijanis suddenly come out with photographs? It turned out that it was about a young man who was killed by an accidental shot by a traffic police officer. At the moment of struggle, when he literally tried to fight off his fellow tribesman, who was being led into the car to draw up a report.

And it turns out that a certain group of people is very worried about this and believes that the police officer was somehow not punished enough. So, excuse me, what are you talking about? About the fact that you can take away an employee’s weapon? Or about the fact that you can fight off detainees? Are you holding a rally about this?

I look further. Actually, the police officer was doing his job. Carried out the detention of offenders. There was a chase, and in the heat of the struggle he had to draw a weapon. Yes, he made a mistake, a terrible tragic mistake, but was he so dangerous to society that he, a man who had worked for a long time in law enforcement, was brought in handcuffs in disgrace to the center of Novosibirsk? Moreover, he was threatened, humiliated, in fact, as stated by his lawyer. The employee himself told the court that his family was threatened. And in such a state of shock, the person was brought and locked in a pre-trial detention center.

Just imagine, when this incident happened, the traffic cop was just sitting on his knees next to this guy, he understood that everything, his life had gone downhill. He didn't want this. And now he has been humiliated so much...

We initially did not have information about the nationality of the deceased young man. But someone took this nationality and put it on public display. And this someone came to Moshkovo and staged a show there. I spoke with the head of the Moshkovsky district, who on his day off went to reassure these distressed fellow countrymen of the deceased. That is, it turned out that he was not just a young man, but a young man with a nationality. And for some people this nationality itches.

Yes, the father of the deceased and relatives arrived there. But what do the rest of those who arrived have to do with the murdered man? Why did you come all the way from Tomsk? Where is Tomsk and where is Moshkovo? Why did the leader of the Azerbaijani diaspora come there? I have a question: who organized all this? And for what? Why did a road conflict turn into an interethnic one?

Then I saw that as a result of this show organized in Moshkovo, the law enforcement agencies of the Novosibirsk region succumbed to pressure. And they tightened the preventive measures for their employee.

And the threats to the employee - they were not empty. The police themselves took them seriously because his family was provided with security and, according to media reports, they left Moshkovo.

Do you know how and in what form these threats were carried out?

I don’t know how these threats were expressed to him, but Gusev, the same traffic police inspector, stated at the trial that they threatened to burn his house down. There are witnesses who heard this. The second information about the threats is from the words of a lawyer who heard them personally.

Accordingly, such a tense situation has developed. I put all this in writing. All your doubts, questions. I sent it to the prosecutor’s office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB, and wrote that if a person is threatened, then this is extremism, which means that it is necessary to respond. If there are violations during the organization of rallies, then it needs to be checked. If non-citizens of Russia took part in the protests, then they need to be deported. The traffic police officer must be placed under house arrest pending trial. And why wasn’t an article immediately filed for resisting police officers during arrest? Absolutely simple, understandable and logical things.

And after that, the leader of the local Azerbaijani diaspora really wanted to talk to you?

I first voiced my position in a broadcast on the Komsomolskaya Pravda radio. It all started when a correspondent called me and asked for contact information of the leader of the local Azerbaijani diaspora. I provided the phone number of Rasim Sahib Ogly Babayev. And the correspondent asks: “Will you give your comment?” I agreed. The broadcast was Novosibirsk time at one twenty in the morning, Babaev spoke, I spoke, and at one thirty they called me, after which we talked for an hour. And according to him, it turned out that the young people had nothing to do with it, but the traffic police nicknames, on the contrary, were somehow wrong. I listen to all this and answer: “Rasim Sahib Ogly, remember that you were once a law enforcement officer. And stop defending third parties, and take the side of the law.” But I did not meet any understanding on his part.

In what tone did he speak to you?

The first conversation was in a respectful and correct tone. But the very fact that a person called me at one thirty at night and talked to me until two thirty, I consider absolutely abnormal. I endured this simply because I know this man - together with him we are part of the same body at the Novosibirsk mayor's office - the Coordination Council for Interethnic Relations.

In the morning, I posted a message on social networks where I formulated my questions, which I prepared for an application to law enforcement agencies. Sent an application. And at eleven o’clock in the evening Rasim Sahib Ogly called me again. And here we already talked to him in a raised voice. Because there are certain limits: I didn’t sleep one night, now I can’t sleep the second? The man clearly entered my personal space. Well, conversations began that, well, we have information about Gusev, that he is somehow different, and soon this information about him will be made public. “Are you ready to apologize?”

What should I apologize for? What does Gusev’s personality have to do with me and everything that happened, and what is his track record? What should I blame and to whom? Before the Azerbaijani people? Or personally in front of Babaev?

Then came the call not to disturb the public. But sorry! How do I excite the public? Maybe it was I who organized the picket on Lenin Square? Or did I start a motor rally around Novosibirsk? Or did I come to Moshkovo and triple the intimidation campaign there? No. So who then excites the people? Was it not the Azerbaijani community itself that brought this conflict to the national level? Which of us poses a threat to international peace and harmony: a deputy asking questions or a diaspora leader calling at night.

By the way, what is the official title of Babaev?

If we talk about his official position, he is an adviser to the mayor of Novosibirsk, Anatoly Evgenievich Lokt. This is a person who fits into any office of the Novosibirsk City Hall. And he is the head of the local National-Cultural Autonomy of Azerbaijanis.

After that conversation, I perceived everything that was happening as a form of pressure on myself, especially since he started talking about some kind of extremism. I generally decided to end any private negotiations with Rasim Sahib Ogly and make the content of our dialogue public. The next morning I wrote a message about this (by the way, I warned Babaev, he was aware) on social networks, and answered Babaev himself - he immediately started writing something to me on WhatsApp, asking him not to bother me anymore. By proposing to discuss exclusively on the platform of the Coordination Council of the Novosibirsk City Hall.

After a fairly short period of time from the moment of publication, I received a call from the Center for Combating Extremism of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and was invited to talk. At first I thought it was about my statement and was even glad that there was such a quick reaction. I prepared a package of documents and went to a meeting at the department. And I found out that we will not be discussing the offenses of various individuals, but my personal business...

We talked for four hours, on record, and they told me that they would probably initiate an administrative case against me for disseminating false information. About the threats of the Azerbaijanis to Gusev, they say, there were no threats to him. I ask: “Do you have a refutation from him himself? Here you go, media publications about threats that came out even before my message; when I checked this information, I first called the correspondent who traveled to Moshkovo and was in court; Here you go, an interview with a lawyer talking about threats. Do you have an official refutation on the website? There is no refutation. Then what questions for me?”

That's how we talked. For some reason, law enforcement agencies began to search not where they had lost them, but where there was light. For some reason, they decided that it was easier to silence one inconvenient deputy than to solve the problem of organized national autonomy.

They questioned me, I asked to indicate in what capacity I was with them, they wrote that as part of operational search activities. That is, they quickly found me and began activities against me. Let's see how this activity ends. I am sure that I am right, I am sure that the position I take is the only correct one in this story, I believe that the traffic police officer should be released under house arrest. We need to figure out who threatened his family and officially confirm or refute these threats. Bring to justice those who stayed in Moshkovo if their actions involved violations - riot police went there for some reason. And deal with those who organized our rally on Lenin Square, and then the rides around Novosibirsk. And reward everyone: citizens - for violating coronavirus restrictions, and non-citizens - a ticket to Baku.

The main responsibility of the Azerbaijani diaspora is that it brought this conflict to this level. When even the Azerbaijani embassy demands that the Novosibirsk region conduct a fair investigation. But, excuse me, the parents of the deceased moved to Novosibirsk from Georgia, and he himself was born in Novosibirsk and was a citizen of the Russian Federation. That is, it turns out that at least two generations of these people have never been citizens of Azerbaijan. Have you ever applied for Azerbaijani citizenship, and why then does Azerbaijan interfere in the internal affairs of the Russian Federation? I believe that in this situation, the Azerbaijani Embassy needs to do one very important thing: to ensure the reception of those persons - non-citizens of Russia, participants in this picket, and to start settling them in their homeland. This will be very important and useful work. And they shouldn’t ask what the law enforcement system of the Novosibirsk region of Russia is doing - it’s not their business.

Curious, what happened to the participants in the incident themselves?

There were three of them. One was killed, the second was filming what was happening on his phone, the third was driving. Probably the other two are sitting at home, some kind of administrative work has been done on them. I personally have not heard about any trial with their participation. Although at least two out of three people tried to resist the police officers. As far as I understand, the situation was as follows: these guys were driving a car with tinted windows, and when traffic police officers gave them the command to stop, they simply pressed the pedal to the floor and rushed off. But they didn’t calculate their strength; the patrol caught up with them.

The most interesting thing is that a couple of days later there was an incident in Khimki, when an Azerbaijani MMA fighter did not like that a police car was allegedly parked in his place.

This is the same impunity that corrupts. When they punish not those who committed the crime, but those who tried to prevent it. They punish a person who fulfilled his duty. A deputy who asks awkward questions is punished. And those who create a situation that is on the verge or beyond extremism are respected people. They are invited to important events, they are consulted with, and the highest officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs sit at the same table with them. Naturally, how will they solve problems?

And the police officer, having learned from the bitter experience of his colleagues, will next time think: should he intervene or is it better to turn away? Because whoever drives this car will definitely cause problems. But for someone who does not belong to the diaspora, or to any economic or criminal group, there will be no problems; you can get even on him. So we will have eternal walking in circles, eternal decisions in offices and complete degradation of the law enforcement system.

And the fact that I’m asking such questions now, I just want to stop this process, at least here in the Novosibirsk region. So that our police officers are not humiliated, beaten, and imprisoned in disgrace for the work they do, even if not always as it should be.

For a long time, ethnic groups were allowed to form in the Russian Federation. Let's take the Novosibirsk region; in the 80s we had virtually no immigrants from Transcaucasia. That is, there were a few, for example, Mr. Babaev. He served in law enforcement agencies, acquired connections, and began helping his fellow countrymen settle in a new place when Azerbaijan entered a period of instability. They grew stronger here, acquired connections, and did not run away. And at the same time, they have not lost their loyalty to Azerbaijan, it should be noted, because if you go to any organization run by representatives of the diaspora, their flag will definitely hang there.

And now, in addition to the fact that they are deeply incorporated into organized structures, they also have representation in government bodies. How is this expressed? Our state develops and strengthens national and cultural autonomies. Their representatives are present at all round tables, meet with governors, meet with mayors. I cannot meet with the mayor and governor as often as, for example, Mr. Babaev. They reach agreements and resolve issues. Representatives of autonomies are included in public councils under the Central Internal Affairs Directorate and other structures. That is, they interact with law enforcement agencies. Although, it would seem, how are these people better than those who have lived here for generations? Where do they get such special privileges that they are allowed into such offices? Well, live and live, just follow the laws. And all will be well. But no, they have an additional resource, and it’s a sin not to use this resource.

And we understand that each such organization has international connections. And if we talk about Azerbaijanis, then this is, of course, Azerbaijan, no one has lost contact with their historical homeland there, and Türkiye is now behind Azerbaijan. It is very important to understand here: is the recent growing number of incidents involving representatives of the Azerbaijani people an accident, or something else? And here I would really like, I don’t want to assert anything or blame anyone, for our intelligence services to work to understand how the diaspora earns money, how it lives, who it focuses on.

The task of the state is to reorient ethnic groups in its direction, from loyalty to their historical homeland to loyalty to Russia, and to prevent them from forming into ethnic organized crime groups.

While the interview was being prepared, it became known that the case of traffic police inspector Alexander Gusev was taken under control by the Investigative Committee of Russia, he himself was released from the pre-trial detention center, and two other Azerbaijanis who participated in the incident in Moshkovo were already detained.