MOSCOW, October 8 (Itar-Tass) —— Left Front coordinator Sergei Uldaltsov has been summoned to the Russian Investigation Committee to give explanations in connection with the controversial “Anatomy of Protest-2” documentary shown on one of the federal television channels.
“They called me and invited to come on October 10 at 15:00 to give explanations in connection with this film,” Udaltsov said on Monday, October 8. “There was no meeting with this Givi [Targamadze]. I don’t know him. The videois blurred and I could not even recognise myself in it. The talk about seizure of Kaliningrad is simply laughable. I think they took recordings of different telephone conversations, quilted them and showed,” he said.
Udaltsov also denies getting money from abroad. “I have been under the surveillance of security services for a long time and if something like that had happened in reality, they would have acted right away,” he said.
“I will go to the Investigation Committee and give my explanations. I hope that with the help of the Investigation Committee we will find out who made this video,” Udaltsov said, adding that he has so far been summoned as a witness.
Earlier he described the film as “a provocation” aimed at “preparing the public opinion for new arrests of opposition activists” and did not rule out his own arrest among others.
The Investigation Committee stressed that Udaltsov has been summoned to report to investigators on October 10 to give explanations in connection with the inquiry into facts mentioned in the “Anatomy of Protest-2” documentary.
“Investigators have also requested the NTV channel to provide all initial materials that were used in the documentary,” Investigation Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said.
“The Main Investigation Department of the Investigation Committee of Russia has arranged for an investigation of the facts concerning organisation of mass riots in Russia that were stated in the ‘Anatomy of Protest-2’ documentary shown on NTV on October 5, 2012,” Investigation Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said on Saturday, October 6.
“Based on the results of the inquiry, the investigator will make a procedural decision,” he said.
“The Main Investigation Department of the Investigation Committee is continuing to investigate the criminal case on the organisation of and participation in mass riots the use of violence against representatives of the authorities in Bolotnaya Square in Moscow on May 6, which involves 17 suspects,” Markin said.
“With regard to two suspects the criminal cases were investigated separately and the investigation has already been completed,” he added.
Earlier in the day, the Prosecutor General’s Office said it would examine the facts mentioned in the controversial documentary.
Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika has ordered the facts stated in the film to be verified, the spokesperson for the Prosecutor General’s Office, Marina Gridneva, said.
“Based on the results of the inquiry, if violations of law are found, all necessary measures of prosecutor’s response will be raken,” she said.
The second part of the controversial film “Anatomy of Protest” appeared on NTV on Friday, October 5. Its authors exposed mechanisms used for providing funding to the so-called non-system opposition in Russia. They claimed that some funding could be provided by former Bank of Moscow CEO Andrei Borodin through Givi Targamadze, former head of the Defence and Security Committee in the Georgian parliament. According to the authors of the film, Sergei Udaltsov, Left Front coordinators, was one of the actors in spurring the protest movement in the country.