Businessman Andrey Kovalchuk, convicted in a case of organizing cocaine smuggling to Russia through the embassy in Argentina, asked to be sent to war in Ukraine. Eva Merkacheva, a member of the Presidential Council for Human Rights (HRC), wrote about this in an article for Moskovsky Komsomolets.
The human rights activist reported that the administration of the strict regime penal colony No. 6 in the Vladimir region forbade Kovalchuk from communicating on the phone even with his lawyer — there is practically no contact with him. She knows from other prisoners that Kovalchuk has health problems.
According to Merkacheva, the businessman «is not sure that he will live to see the end of his 18-year term,» so he is counting on either a cassation appeal or participation in the war with Ukraine.
As Merkacheva writes, Kovalchuk has citizenship not only of Russia, but also of Germany, which is why «concluding a contract with the Ministry of Defense is practically impossible.» Therefore, he would like to get to the war through a private military company.
In January 2022, the Dorogomilovsky District Court of Moscow sentenced the defendants in the case of smuggling almost 400 kilograms of cocaine from Argentina to terms ranging from 13 to 18 years in a maximum security penal colony (Part 5 of Article 228.1, paragraphs «a» and «b» of Part 4 of Article 229.1 of the Criminal Code).
The jury found them guilty of drug smuggling and distribution, but deserving leniency. Kovalchuk, whom the investigation named as the organizer of the deliveries, was sentenced to 18 years in prison and a fine of 1.8 million rubles.
The former quartermaster of the embassy in Buenos Aires, Ali Abyanov, who, at Kovalchuk's request, placed suitcases with cocaine in the utility room of the school at the embassy, was sentenced to 17 years in prison; those who helped Vladimir Kalmykov and Ishtimir Khudzhamov with the transportation — to 16 and 13 years of imprisonment, respectively.
According to investigators, Kovalchuk and the other defendants attempted to send a large batch of cocaine to Moscow through diplomatic channels in December 2016. Kovalchuk himself claimed that he bought coffee in Argentina, packed it in suitcases and left it for storage at the Russian embassy in Argentina; then the coffee was allegedly replaced with cocaine by American intelligence services.