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Alexander Bastrykin started his visit to St. Petersburg with a meeting with two St. Petersburg citizens, Victor Kornev and Mark Maklakov. The young men, showing fearlessness and dedication, did not stay aside and helped a man to get out of a drowning car and saved two his children from the cold water. The Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia underlined that the concerned attitude of the young men helped to avoid a tragedy and their act deserves genuine respect and appreciation. Noting the responsiveness of Victor Kornev and Mark Maklakov, Alexander Bastrykin awarded the St. Petersburg citizen the Valor and Courage medal of the Investigative Committee and wished them success and good health.

The accident itself occurred on November 16, 2019, when a car driver, having aboard two his children - a 5-month-old girl and a 9-year-old boy - lost control of his car and swerved into Fontanka River. Victor Kornev and Mark Maklakov were just random witnesses of the accidents, but they jumped in the water without thinking in order to save people.

Following the meeting, Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia Alexander Bastrykin held a personal reception of citizens. The reception was attended by chiefs and officers of regional investigative departments processing probes and investigative materials which had drawn the attention of the Chairman addressed by citizens. During the reception, Alexander Bastrykin listened to citizens of St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad.

One of the applicants - an individual entrepreneur operating in the area of logging, drew attention to systematic violations of forestry legislation in Leningrad Region. According to the man, there are drawbacks in regulating issues of sale of state-owned wood. In particular, this is reflected in the multi-layer system for obtaining permissions from supervisory authorities that are in fact non-responsible for preservation and service life of harvested wood. Apart from that, it enables unscrupulous workers of supervisory authorities to commit corruption offenses. He named extortion of a bribe by Kirishskoe Forestry officials for commissioning of a woodlot one of examples of illegal activities. The applicant thinks that the current legislation requires amendment.

At the same time, the Leningrad Regional Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia is investigating a probe into bribery in Kirishskoe Forestry. Investigation pressed charges against two its representatives for committing of a corruption offense.

The Head of the St. Petersburg Main Investigations Directorate reported the Head of the Committee that St. Petersburg investigators, who are investigating a probe into members of a criminal group having committed swindling in the area of logging, are also aware of the situation with violations of forestry legislation.

Alexander Bastrykin instructed the officers of the regional investigations directorate to finish the investigation of the probe as quickly as possible. Moreover, he pointed out that it is necessary to work through the issue reported by the applicant and instructed his subordinates to analyze the legislative framework regulating legal relations in the area of wood trafficking in Leningrad Region.

During the reception, a St. Petersburg citizen complained about the swindling of representatives of microfinance organization MKK Profireal LLC. The man refused to take out a 12-month loan of 25 000 rubles at an interest rate of 179% that had been approved for him. However, the indicated sum of money was transferred to his card. After filing a complaint to the organization he received an answer that the contract had been concluded, however, the company failed to give him the contract and bank details to return the money. Later he started to receive threats from the microfinance organization demanding to return the overdue debt. The Head of the St. Petersburg Main Investigations Directorate reported that investigators are carrying out a pre-investigative probe into the circumstances reported by the complainant. Alexander Bastrykin demanded to promptly establish the details of the situation and to take a procedural decision, as well as to check the legality of actions of workers of the designated organization related to providing loans to other persons. Alexander Bastrykin also encouraged all citizens affected by activities of the designated microfinance organization to report about it to the St. Petersburg Main Investigations Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia for prompt response measures.

A representative of a Kaliningrad navy yard applied to the Head of the Investigative Committee of Russia in relation to the investigation of a probe into embezzlement of the navy yard funds during the supply of required equipment. According to the complainant, it is necessary to give legal assessment to all persons related to the fulfillment of a contract for the supply of ship equipment during the preliminary investigation. In this relation, the representative of the joint-stock company asked Alexander Bastrykin to instruct his subordinates to ensure a high-quality investigation of swindling. The Head of the Investigative Committee of Russia instructed his subordinates to check the lawfulness of actions all participants engaged in the contract and to take measures to eliminate causes and circumstances that facilitated the crime and to ensure full compensation of damage.

Apart from that, during his working visit to St. Petersburg, Alexander Bastrykin delivered a lecture for students of the St. Petersburg State University covering issues of international legal activities of the Investigative Committee of Russia.

The Professor talked about the legal framework of international cooperation and about the Investigative Committee experience of interaction with foreign colleagues. Talking about the practical work, Alexander Bastrykin noted that investigators of the Investigative Committee of Russia have accumulated significant experience of carrying out investigative actions abroad under processed probes, including those in Syria, Egypt, and Turkey. The lecturer mentioned certain aspects of the search for persons, interaction with Interpol, the return of illegally acquired property smuggled abroad, and of investigation of crimes against peace and safety of mankind committed by Ukrainian servicemen in Donbass.

Solving all issues announced during the reception was put under supervision.

Official spokesperson for the Investigative Committee of Russia S. Petrenko