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Chairman of Russian Investigative Committee holds working meeting with volunteers

Today, Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Alexander Bastrykin held a working meeting with representatives of the search-and-rescue group “Lisa Alert”. The meeting was attended by Chairman of the Union of Investigation Veterans Vladimir Dontsov; representatives of the Moscow Academy of the Investigative Committee of Russia and of the Alexander Nevsky Cadet Corps of the Investigative Committee of Russia.

Alexander Bastrykin opened the meeting with a report on the tragedy of December 4 - the death of Vanya Krapivin who had been severely injured by a drunk neighbour. As the Chairman of the Committee noted, it was essential not to remain indifferent, not to walk past another’s trouble since a timely signal could help save someone’s life.

The Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia reminded that International Volunteer Day was celebrated on December 5, and this year it was a doubly significant date for Russia since 2018 was declared a Volunteer Year by the President of the Russian Federation.

“Russian volunteering tradition is a tradition of genuine, not hollow patriotism. You can’t force anyone to love their Motherland. This feeling comes by itself along with understanding that you are a part of a great whole and of great history, that you are responsible for the future. People blessed with this feeling can move mountains, they can do things that seem impossible,” Alexander Bastrykin summarised.

During its work, the Investigative Committee actively cooperates with search-and-rescue teams of Lisa Alert, Volunteer Commonwealth “Search for Missing Children”, regional volunteer organisation “Piter-Search”, public movement “Legion”, et cetera. Also, in summer 2018 the Investigative Committee supported the First All-Russian Forum of volunteer search-and-rescue groups.

In order to eliminate existing normative gaps in organisation of the joint work of law enforcement authorities, rescue teams and volunteer organisations, in May 2018 the Investigative Committee, together with public representatives and interested governmental agencies such as the Ministry of Internal Affairs, EMERCOM, Ministry for Defence, and the National Guard, signed a regulatory act on algorithm of interaction between state authorities, volunteer organisations and volunteers in search for missing citizens, including minors. The document was introduced to all Regional Directorates of the Investigative Committee of Russia.

Today, the parties discussed positive results of this work. Analysis of criminal cases and conducted pre-investigative probes on missing people, especially minors, showed that the exact execution of the requirements of this document in most cases provided for finding of the missing alive and unharmed or for identifying the persons who committed or attempted to commit a crime as soon as possible.

At the meeting today, the parties noted that the interaction and timely response were the key elements of this work since the time factor was sometimes essential for a successful search. As Grigory Sergeev noted, the Investigative Committee fully understood this matter and its officers always responded swiftly to reports about missing people, especially minors. At that, Grigory Sergeev added that now the main efforts must be concentrated on improvement of search results for senior people since they were an equally vulnerable category of people as children.

Representatives of the Moscow Academy of the Investigative Committee reported on performance of the volunteer centre that was created on the basis of the Academy and provided support and help to the people in need. In his turn, Alexander Bastrykin suggested the students of the Moscow Academy also taking part in search-and-rescue operations, and they responded to this suggestion with great pleasure.

Closing the meeting, Alexander Bastrykin thanked all the volunteers and wished them further success. He awarded the medal of Investigative Committee “For Contribution” to Chairman of Lisa Alert Grigory Sergeev; leader of a search team of Lisa Alert Vladimir Svetlovsky; information coordinators Anna Ivanova, Stefania Vasilyeva, Ekaterina Kalinina, Viktor Dulin; senior dispatcher of Lisa Alert Vladimir Kachur; cartographer Vsevolod Budkin.

 

Official spokesperson for the Investigative Committee of Russia S. Petrenko