Military escalation

In late June, the court received a document signed by Denis Kolesnikov, a top official at the Russian Investigative Committee. The document read that Pivovarov and his accomplices, including Dzhagaryan, an 80-year-old woman who suffered a stroke and is now incapable of leaving her bed, are indicted on two articles of the Russian Criminal Code.

Yuri Pivovarov, who is currently recovering after cancer treatment in Germany, told us his thoughts about the whole case and the situation.

“Yes, I was arrested. I can tell you that the case has been going on for 8 years now. It all started with the fire in the Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences’ library in January 2015. State TV channels immediately pounced on me, saying that here’s a liberal one, he started the fire himself. Dmitry Kiselyov (television presenter, news executive and propagandist — Novaya Gazeta. Europe) was screaming, “Imprison him, Pivovarov stole the books that are now being sold in Arbat (a pedestrian street in downtown Moscow — Novaya Gazeta. Europe) or smuggled abroad.” This is pure nonsense. My colleagues and I back then were heroically saving the institute, or what was left of it rather… The Emergencies Ministry was probing the incident and concluded that I had nothing to do with the fire breaking out. The Investigative Committee was also looking into it and I was not found guilty of it. The news died down. Then the committee looked at it from another angle, the financial one, and launched an embezzlement case.”

“The whole case rests on the testimony of prosecution witness Alexei Sliva, historian and employee of the Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences.”

“We had a normal relationship. He said that head of the planning department Dzhagaryan and I forced him to employ Dzhagaryan’s daughter and it’s said that she did not work but received her salary. I learnt that this woman had been employed at the institute from an Investigative Committee officer in the Tekhnichesky Alley. I had 850 institute workers under me, so I only knew the top ones, doctors, professors and heads. It turned out that she was indeed employed there but her work was done by some other staffer for her. So, there was no damage anyway. Again, I learnt all of this from officers. An embezzlement criminal case was launched, I was under investigation. Witness Alexei Sliva died back in early 2018 from cancer. Now, we cannot ask him anything.”

“The case was returned back to officers for further inquiry several times.”

“And then I was diagnosed with cancer. I tried getting treatment in Russia, it didn’t work. It was too severe, central nervous system lymphoma. My friends and acquaintances helped with getting treatment overseas. I first had a few chemotherapy treatment cycles, then I underwent a bone marrow transplant. It took me over a year. And then the recovery began. I was sent to Germany for rehabilitation. It was more comfortable for me there because I can speak German. I am still here to continue my treatment.”

“When appealing to the Basmanny Court to secure my arrest, the Investigative Committee lied that they had been looking for me in Israel and Germany. They knew and still know about all of my movements and addresses. Officers were quickly getting medical review of my state, the fact that I cannot fly right now, at any request. The doctors just prohibited me to fly and continue to do so.”

“I literally yesterday sent a doctor’s note to an investigating officer to confirm that I am in no condition to fly. They know my current address in Germany very well. The investigation contacted the German police and my lawyers.”

“I previously thought that the criminal case was going to be closed. What else was I supposed to think? I lived for 72 years and didn’t steal a cent. I lived in Moscow with my family in a one-bedroom apartment before my departure. I don’t have a country house or a car. The investigators saw it all when they were searching my premises. I had a savings account with 3-4 million rubles (48,500-64,500 euros — Novaya Gazeta. Europe) on it. That same Basmanny Court seized around 2 million rubles earlier for a future verdict although there has been no verdict yet…”

“Why did they decide to arrest me in absentia right now? I am certain that this is linked to my position on the war in Ukraine. I am naturally against this war. I refer to this tragedy as war and nothing else. In the very first days I signed a letter written by several academicians and corresponding fellows of the Russian Academy of Sciences in protest against the war. I immediately joined the Anti-war Committee that united Khodorkovsky, Chichvarkin and Kasparov. The Russian authorities view as all as traitors and fifth columnists. I was invited to speak at Ukrainian TV channels several times by Yevgeny Kiselyov and other Ukrainian journalists, published an article in Novaya Gazeta in Europe a few days before the newspaper left the country. The article was not brutal but rough and also about the war… Russian TV presenters Vitaly Tretyakov and Vladimir Solovyov immediately retaliated against me for this article. By the way, a few years ago I had decent relationships with both (not professional but personal ones). But they quickly reduced me to nothing for my position against the war and my article in Novaya Gazeta. Solovyov was especially going the distance to do so…”

“It seems that it’s the retribution for the past as well. My position had been clear to everyone even before the war from my books, articles and speeches. The war is just a specific pretext.”

“What’s happening right now in Russia is just simply a sort of military escalation. Arrests of rectors (Mau and Zuyev, their cases are identical to mine), arrests of citizens, including women, for so-called fakes (or their opinions essentially), exacerbating harassment of scientists. Even sick ones are sent to detention centres, even the ones with stage 4 cancer from hospitals. It is a true tragedy what happened to Dmitry Kolker from Novosibirsk, he died two days after his arrest. A young man aged just 54… He was simply delivering lectures in China and was branded a spy.”

To be honest, I am tired after these 8 years. I am tired at the age of 72 to often hear from people I know, “there’s no smoke without fire, they don’t lie in Russia, they check everything.” No, they do lie often. I never stole a cent. And I reiterate, I never fled the investigation. They are spouting nonsense, my arrest order reads that I was hiding and then they go on to specify my current address in Germany…”

“So, I have no doubts that my arrest is a set-up that coincided with the escalation in persecution of scientists and fifth columnists.”