Bugged? Russian Anti-Corruption Blogger Charged With Embezzlement Finds Recording Devices in His Office
- Posted on August 7, 2012 at 7:13am by
Liz Klimas
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(Image: Alexei Navalny Instagram screenshot)
MOSCOW (TheBlaze/AP) — Russia’s opposition leader Alexei Navalny says he has discovered a listening device and a video camera in his office in central Moscow.
Navalny, one of President Vladimir Putin‘s fiercest critics and a driving force behind last winter’s mass protests, posted a photo of the listening device on his Twitter on Monday and issued this YouTube video:
(Related: ‘UFO’ Hovering Above Russian Protesters Turns Out to Be a Drone)
Police officers were working at Navalny’s offices to investigate how the device got planted there. Navalny tweeted a story on his Live Journal documenting the investigation. Here is what he has written thus far (translated by Google Translate):
An employee of the Foundation for Combating Corruption (ipasserby) out of the holidays and brought “bug detector”. They began to laugh, to check my office.
Now in office, 12 police officers.
Found not only the current listening device, but also a hidden video camera.
Power supplies, transmitters of information, all the cases.
(Image: Twitter screenshot)
The 36-year-old anti-corruption activist was charged last month with theft for allegedly organizing a plan to steal about $500,000 in assets from a state timber company. He was ordered to remain in Moscow as authorities investigate him. Navalny has denied the charges. The New York Times has more on this denial from last week:
The State Investigative Committee on Tuesday accused Mr. Navalny, acting as an adviser to the governor of the Kirov region, of organizing a scheme to steal timber from KirovLes, resulting in losses of $500,000 to the regional budget. He has denied any wrongdoing, and he sounded surprised after meeting with investigators on Tuesday.
“What has happened is absolutely absurd and very strange, because they have completely changed the story behind the charge,” Mr. Navalny said. “I cannot imagine how they will find a way to prove it. But they will, I guess.”
Alexei Navalny speaks with the media on August 3. (Photo: AP/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
These latest finds in Navalny’s office at the Anti-Corruption Fund, for which Navalny immediately called the police to investigate, could have been they “way to prove it” that Navalny alluded to.
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Constantine Ivanov
Posted on August 7, 2012 at 11:48pmPutin was practicing on Khodorkovsky;
Report Post »since Putin is a perfectionist, he is now polishing his methods on Navalny.
After Navalny all of a sudden dies from a heart attack, all other anti-corruptionists and anti-Putinists will have no problems to find themselves behind bars with no trace of any sort of trails and will calmly die from unexpected health complications, like Magnitsky or Litvinenko.
How wonderful the KGB classes are!
Mother Russia über alles! Long live Tsar Putin! Long Live resurrected Lenin and Hitler! Sieg heil! Heil Putin! Mother Father Russia über alles! Navalnys come and go, but Putin is and will be eternal.
Constructionist
Posted on August 7, 2012 at 11:39pmI was once a part of the first rotation of US embassy military liaisons to live in a newly rented apartment in Moscow. We assumed that the KGB had bugged the apartment, and soon determined that someone was physically entering the unit during our absences. One day as I headed out the door to work, I said loudly (in Russian), “Hey Boris, the lightbulb in the hallway is burned out. If you could take care of that while I’m out, I’d appreciate it.” When I got home from work that evening, the lightbulb had been replaced.
Report Post »look73
Posted on August 19, 2012 at 7:51pmв армии дальний восток ссср служил друг в пво американские самолёты разведчики постоянно летали вдоль границы как то один из них слишком близко подошел командир в шутку по телефону предложил сбить его буквально через пару минут нарушитель на форсаже отлетал от границы в сша прослушка была на высоком уровне
Report Post »EqualJustice
Posted on August 7, 2012 at 2:46pmHe’s Anti-corruption in Russia and they bugged his office? Yikes he’s in trouble now. Sounds like the USA these days.
Report Post »Brad Wesselmann
Posted on August 7, 2012 at 10:00amThose are just the bugs they wanted him to find, and what the hell is that sticking out of that wall a 1960′s camera??? I’m pretty sure the technology at the hands of the “power” is just a little bit more sophisticated, even in Russia.
Report Post »kpeters59
Posted on August 7, 2012 at 9:20amComing soon to to a country near you!
Unless we make the right changes in 91 days…
Report Post »barber2
Posted on August 7, 2012 at 8:46amBig Brother does not like secrets. He also doesn’t like sugar drinks larger than 16 oz.
Report Post »justangry
Posted on August 7, 2012 at 8:02amI thought this was the new norm. Probably just looking for terrorists.
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