Time to read: 16 minutes(s)

The Ryazan Regional Court questioned a former correspondent for the online publication Meduza* Maxim Solopov — co-author of a journalistic investigation into a double murder in which defendants in the high-profile "terrorist community case" may be involved "Net"**.

The defendants themselves claimed that such a community never existed and was a fabrication of FSB officers, and they called Meduza's* investigation another provocation.

The journalist's interrogation took place March 27 and lasted four and a half hours. Of those, the state prosecutor spent 58 minutes reading to the jury Meduza's* publications, which became the starting point for the criminal case regarding the murders in the Ryazan forest. These same publications also quelled the wave of protests in support of the defendants. Network cases**, which took place across the country in February 2020.

In general, do you treat me normally? — defendant Maxim Ivankin, who received 13 years for participating in the terrorist organization “Network,” asked a journalist.**.

Well, I'll say it with suspicion, - Maxim Solopov answered him— I don’t feel any personal animosity, but I do suspect some serious crime.

Information: Maxim Solopov began his journalistic career in February 2012 as a correspondent for Gazeta.Ru. From 2014 to 2018, he worked at RBC, Mediazona, and Kommersant. In December 2019, he became a special correspondent for the online publication Meduza*.

Maxim Solopov has a reputation as a civil activist and anti-fascist. In July 2010, he was arrested as the organizer of a protest in Khimki against the logging of the Khimki Forest for the construction of the Moscow-St. Petersburg highway. He received a two-year suspended sentence.

In the summer of 2014, a group of neo-Nazis attacked Solopov and his girlfriend in central Moscow: they were sprayed in the face with pepper spray.

The investigation into the murder in the Ryazan forest, co-authored by Maxim Solopov, has sparked controversy in the anti-fascist community: most of the defendants in the "Network"** case were anti-fascists.

Maxim Solopov left Meduza* in May 2021 after the publication was designated a foreign agent. He then worked at RTVI and Baza.

Currently - editor of a government loyalist publications "Vedomosti".

Suspicious silence

Maxim Solopov heard about the murder in the Ryazan forest from a St. Petersburg activist. Ilya Khesin, who knew the defendants in the high-profile "Network"** case, was part of a support group, communicated with their relatives and friends, and studied the investigative materials. He contacted a Meduza* journalist in February 2020 — almost immediately after the court in Penza announced the guilty verdict against seven participants in the case, and thousands of citizens across the country came out in their support.

According to Solopov, one of the first meetings with Ilya Khesin took place at FSB buildings on Lubyanka, where at the time, collective pickets were taking place in support of those involved in the "Network" case**. Against this backdrop, the theory of their possible involvement in the murder in the Ryazan forest seemed improbable.

Khesin said that there is a case about the murder of a certain person Artem Dorofeev, who was associated with members of the so-called “Network”** and disappeared [in the spring of 2017], — the journalist explained to the court— This story was discussed in closed support chats. There, it was reported that Dorofeev's body had been found in a Ryazan forest, and that investigators had questioned [two defendants in the "Network"** case] about it. Maxim Ivankin и Mikhail Kulkov, who disappeared with him [in the spring of 2017, being suspects in a drug trafficking case]. 

Ilya Khesin also clarified that Artem Dorofeev's girlfriend also disappeared along with him. Ekaterina LevchenkoAnd that "the support group simply shrugs and suggests ignoring it." According to the activist, some journalists who covered the "Network" case** and with whom Khesin met before his appearance on Meduza* told him roughly the same thing.

I was shocked that everyone kept silent about this situation and did not even try to raise the alarm, — this is how Maxim Solopov described his train of thought to the court— Although the defendants in the case actively spoke about torture and pressure [from security forces]. And then a comrade died somewhere in the forest, a girl went missing. And everyone is silent.

So, a Meduza* journalist decided to conduct his own investigation. To do this, he called on his colleague for help. Kristina Safonova, who had been following the "Network" case for several years.** Together, they began studying the case materials and verifying the information received from the St. Petersburg activist.

Unnecessary information

Rumors that the defendants in the "Network"** case might be involved in some kind of murder surfaced in closed support chats after a young woman from Moscow attended one of the trials. She told the parents and friends of the detainees that in 2017 year Maxim Ivankin and Mikhail Kulkov, who had fled Penza, were hiding in her apartment. And that one day, right in her presence, they discussed some kind of murder.

According to Khesin and those who spoke with her, the girl was not quite herself, so everyone took it as a provocation, — Maxim Solopov told the court— And then the investigators identified Dorofeev's remains, found in the Ryazan forest. And then everyone remembered the story again and said, "Stop! There was some girl who talked about Ivankin and the murder!" And they started asking questions.

Ilya Khesin was among those asking questions. He even wrote letters to the arrested defendants in the "Network" case**, trying to find out the circumstances of the disappearance of Artem Dorofeev and Ekaterina Levchenko. According to Maxim Solopov, the St. Petersburg activist took this information to heart and was deeply distressed.

Subsequently, other activists the journalist spoke with admitted that they "didn't want to feel complicit in concealing such an unpleasant truth." Meanwhile, the defendants in the "Network"** case and their relatives allegedly called the story "unnecessary information, which can damage the defense."

Meduza* journalists were assisted in verifying all this "unnecessary information" by acquaintances of those involved in the "Network" case**. Most of them asked to keep their names confidential.

One of those who agreed to perform under her own name was Alexandra Aksenova — the common-law wife of a St. Petersburg defendant in the "Network" case** Viktor Filinkov, who left for Finland and asked for political asylum there.

She knew the materials of the Network** case and the details of the disappearance of Dorofeev and Levchenko, because she was also trying to figure it out, — Maxim Solopov clarified— She knew who knew whom better than us, and explained many things to us.

This is how journalists found out that in Penza There was a safe house called "Gardens," where weapons were stored and where the defendants in the future "Network" case** met. About how some of them were involved in drug trafficking. Also, about how the missing Artem Dorofeev and Ekaterina Levchenko appeared in correspondence as UFOs—an abbreviation that stood for "on a legal basis"It denoted people who were not involved in the organization's underground activities, but sympathized with and helped it.

Overall, the picture was more than plausible. — Maxim Solopov summarized the story of the first results of his investigation— We saw that there was a certain close-knit group that went on hikes in the forest, trained, and shared some common views. That they were acquainted with Dorofeev and Levchenko. And that on the specified dates [at the end of 2016 year] joined them a certain Poltavets, who was present at all these events.

Conversation with Poltavets

The police detained 17-year-old Alexey Poltavets In March 2017, he was planting drugs with Maxim Ivankin and Mikhail Kulkov. All three went on the run in April. 

According to Khesin, Poltavets could have known something about the fate of Artem Dorofeev and Ekaterina Levchenko, because they disappeared at the same time as him.

We found out that it was actually possible to contact this citizen Poltavets, who by that time had already left Russia, — said Maxim Solopov"Khesin conveyed to him through intermediaries that journalists wanted to talk about Dorofeev's murder. And eventually, he got in touch.

Conversations with Poltavets took place via an encrypted messenger: he was worried that law enforcement agencies could track down his location and even demanded that Solopov subsequently dispose of the phone they used to communicate.

According to the journalist, there were only two or three interviews. The longest took place on February 25, four days after came out The first part of the investigation into the murder in the Ryazan forest.

I didn't care where he was. What mattered to me was that I was talking to Poltavets. — Maxim Solopov said and emphasized that he had identified his identity by appearance and voice.

Before this, he had seen Poltavets’s photograph in the materials of the criminal case “Network”**, and had heard his voice in an interview with a Ukrainian radio station, where he spoke about torture in the Penza police department.

Alexey Poltavets told reporters that arrived in Penza from Omsk in concert 2016 yearsThe future defendants in the "Network"** case, whom he met through Viktor Filinkov, housed him in a so-called safe house.

He started communicating with them and at some point realized that some of his comrades were selling drugs and making stashes around the city, - Maxim Solopov recounted his words. - Then he found himself drawn into this story, together with Ivankin and Kulkov The police detained them. They began to think that they would now be persecuted not only for drugs, but also for their underground activities, which consisted of these training sessions in the forest and the purchase of some weapons. Accordingly, they made a collective decision to go into hiding. And that they should also go into hiding. Levchenko with Dorofeev, because they also knew too much about this drug situation.

At first, those who fled from Penza hid in Ryazan, where a friend provided them with an apartment. According to Poltavets, their plan was to evade criminal prosecution in Ukraine. However, Artem Dorofeev and Ekaterina Levchenko refused to leave Russia, declaring their desire to return home. Thus, the decision was made to liquidate them.

Vote

Maxim Ivankin's lawyer asked the journalist who exactly made the decision to kill him. Konstantin Kartashov.

The main topic of discussion was Dmitry Pchelintsev [the court sentenced him to 18 years in prison as the founder of the terrorist group “Network”**] and his comrades who remained in Penza, — answered Maxim SolopovAccording to Poltavets, Ivankin was communicating with Pchelintsev on his phone, and Pchelintsev seemed to be conveying a general consensus that they needed to be eliminated and couldn't be let go. Poltavets concluded that everyone was in favor of eliminating them. But he had his doubts about who was on the other end of the line, and who was in charge.

When asked by his lawyer whether Meduza* had verified this information, Solopov answered in the affirmative.

The defense [of the defendants in the "Network"** case] didn't comment on these issues, focusing on secondary facts like "Pchelintsev had nothing to do with drugs." And, of course, no one commented on the merits of the case. — the journalist clarified.

One piece of indirect evidence linking the defendants in the "Network"** case to the double murder may be the correspondence seized from their phones. One of them discussed elimination of certain "civilians".

The defendants in the “Network”** considered themselves members of an underground organization, while Dorofeev and Levchenko, as Ilya Khesin explained to us, were perceived as civilians, — Maxim Solopov told the court.

The journalist noted that initially the lawyers for the defendants in the “Network”** case stated that all the confiscated the correspondence was falsifiedIn this regard, Meduza*'s editorial team sought expert opinions from the specialists who provided technical support for the site. They, in turn, reached out to their expert contacts.

Everyone confidently said that there were no signs of forgery in the correspondence. — continued Solopov"And there were things there [in the allegedly falsified correspondence] that they weren't charged with. That is, there was no point in falsifying the correspondence regarding the elimination of civilians, because that wasn't even a topic in the terrorism case."

Maxim Solopov also emphasized that a number of defendants acknowledged the authenticity of the seized correspondence, attempting to use it in their testimony as defense arguments. 

Murder

As follows from story by Alexey Poltavets, he chose the place for the murder together with Maxim IvankinAnd in order to lure Dorofeev and Levchenko into the forest, a legend was invented.

They said that they needed to temporarily vacate the apartment because the owner had some household issues of her own, so they needed to go out into the forest, literally for the night, which was generally customary for this group, — Maxim Solopov told the court. - They got to this place near village of Lopukhi, set up camp. What surprised me then was that they didn't even need a tent. They made shelters out of spruce branches.

According to Poltavets, the original plan was to stab Levchenko and Dorofeev to death while they slept. However, they "didn't have the courage" to do it.

As Poltavets explained again, he categorically refused to kill Levchenko because he could not cross this barrier, — Maxim Solopov clarified. "And then Ivankin agreed to kill the girl. He took her aside to gather some branches for a fire, then Poltavets heard screams and realized Ivankin had finished her off. They had a Saiga carbine with them, which they had turned into a sawed-off shotgun. And then he fired [at Dorofeev], but not very successfully. Dorofeev had some wounds on his face, but he was alive; he simply fell and started screaming. And then Poltavets finished him off with a knife. As he explained, he was trying to spare Dorofeev from suffering and to kill him quickly."

They buried the bodies in the same forest, using small shovels they had brought with them. Then they burned all unnecessary belongings and returned. to RyazanThere they met the apartment's owner, to whom they handed over the keys. She later told Meduza* that they smelled strongly of a fire and were both "in a rather agitated emotional state."

How the remains of Ekaterina Levchenko were searched

In a conversation with journalists, Alexey Poltavets noted that I didn't see Ekaterina Levchenko's body.According to him, he simply couldn't bear to look at the murdered girl, so Maxim Ivankin buried her himself.

He also recalled Ivankin’s complaints that “Levchenko was in scarf, so it was difficult to kill her, uncomfortable.”

After the interview, Poltavets sent a graphic file showing the approximate location of Kateryna Levchenko's burial. It was this diagram that later helped investigators locate her remains.

At the same time, Maxim Solopov emphasized that law enforcement agencies did not become interested in his testimony as quickly as he expected.

We told the Ryazan investigator leading the criminal case into Dorofeev's murder that we had relevant information with details [about the girl's burial], to which he replied, "Oh, it's a forest; you won't find anything there. Especially now, with snow all around. So forget about that idea." We said, "This is a high-profile case; we can't just forget about it." The investigator replied, "If you find anything, call us."

According to the journalist, after this, he and Kristina Safonova did indeed set off for the village of Lopukhi to search for the deceased. However, their car became stuck in the snow.

The investigative team arrived at the scene only after Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, intervened. Ekaterina Levchenko's remains were found on March 4, 2020, the day after Meduza* опубликовала A monologue by Alexey Poltavets with a confession to murder.

"He couldn't have composed everything so coherently."

Speaking in court, Maxim Solopov noted that he tried to question Alexey Poltavets in as much detail as possible and record as many details as possible that could help the investigation in the future.

"I understood that no one else might be able to question him afterwards," the journalist admitted. "He had no intention of reporting himself to law enforcement. And I was forced to guarantee that I wouldn't help search for him."

These fears were confirmed: after the interview, Poltavets went off the air, and his fate remains unknown. In October 2021, he was placed on the wanted list.

Maxim Solopov believes Poltavets gave a "maximum truthful" interview. Specifically, he described the murder scene in detail, mentioning a fallen tree, a ditch between two graves, a metal badge from the girl's burned backpack, and forestry signs along the road from the village of Lopukhi.

These are things that could not be pieced together from open sources or the case materials [initiated in 2017 following the discovery of Dorofeev’s body] into a single picture that would be confirmed by the words of other witnesses and the totality of all available facts. — the journalist is sure. “He couldn’t have composed everything so coherently that all these circumstances would coincide.

According to Maxim Solopov, he laid out his version in as much detail as possible, and over the past three years, he has yet to hear an alternative interpretation of events that could confidently refute Poltavets' testimony.

At the time of the murder [of Levchenko and Dorofeev], Poltavets was 17 years old, and he was essentially stuck at that age, — the journalist believes"He was the kind of teenager who gravitated toward his elders, trying to appear bolder and more daring in front of them. And I understood why he felt remorse. Because at that age, people don't always realize what's happening. Especially when it's being done by older friends. He was quite sincerely remorseful about the situation and wanted to tell them where Levchenko's remains were."

After this, Judge Natalia Kianovskaya asked the jurors not to take into account the witness's value judgments regarding the credibility of Alexei Poltavets's words.

Only you will decide whether they are reliable or not when evaluating the evidence, — the judge emphasized.

*On January 26, 2023, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation declared the online publication Meduza an undesirable organization whose activities pose a threat to the foundations of the constitutional order and security of the Russian Federation.

**In January 2019, the Moscow District Court designated "The Network" a terrorist organization. The defendants in the case claim that such an organization never existed.