LONDON, August 20. /TASS/. The British authorities continue to evade cooperation with Russia in the probe into the death of Russian businessman Nikolai Glushkov, taking no notice of the inquiries sent by the Russian Embassy, the embassy said.
"Unfortunately, we have to state once again that the British side continues to evade any sort of cooperation with Russia with regard to the investigation of Mr Glushkov’s death," it said.
"The British authorities continue to ignore our requests. After the Foreign and Commonwealth Office recommended to address all correspondence on this case not to the police but to the FCO, the Embassy has sent a respective Note Verbale," the embassy went on to say.
"In this Note the Embassy once again proposed to arrange a meeting between Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko and the Met Police Commissioner Ms Cressida Rose Dick to discuss the ongoing investigation of Mr Glushkov’s death, and to hold bilateral consultation between the investigation officers. This request has been left unanswered as well," it added.
"More than 5 months have passed since the death of the Russian citizen in London, but the Embassy still gets rationed new information on the "Nikolay Glushkov case" not from the British authorities, but from open sources, including police press statements and media publications," the embassy said.
"Once again we have to state that the UK authorities continue to violate their international obligations and refuse access to the investigation materials concerning the death of the Russian citizen, which is perceived by the British side as a murder. Such disregard of international law, which is also observed in other cases, has seemingly become a common practice in the UK," it stated.
Search for a black van
Last week, the press service of Scotland Yard issued an appeal to anyone with information on the murder of the Russian businessmen, asking the public to help identify the driver of the Volkswagen van spotted at Glushkov’s house on Clarence Avenue on March 11. An image of the vehicle from a CCTV camera was uploaded on its website. Scotland Yard said 286 witness statements and 1,086 exhibits have been seized in the murder case as of now.
Glushkov’s murder
Nikolai Glushkov was found dead at his London home on March 12. The Metropolitan Police said he had died from compression to the neck. At the same time, according to media reports, the businessman was strangled with a dog lead so investigators believe that the killer could have aimed at giving his death the appearance of suicide.
On March 16, Russia’s Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case over Glushkov’s murder. However, as the embassy said earlier, the official London does not respond to proposals to hold bilateral inter-departmental consultations with the participation of Russian investigators.
In the 1990s, Glushkov was deputy managing director at Russia’s flag air carrier Aeroflot and worked for Berezovsky’s LogoVAZ car company. In 2000, he was arrested over the embezzlement of Aeroflot’s funds, and later charged with fraud and money laundering. In 2004, he was sentenced to three years and three months behind bars but was released in the courtroom having served the term in custody.
In recent years, Glushkov had been living in the United Kingdom after being granted political asylum in 2010. In March 2017, Moscow’s Savelovsky District Court handed him a second eight-year sentence in absentia for the embezzlement of Aeroflot’s funds.