Navalny’s conversation with FSB agents (allegedly)

21.12.2020 Alexey Navalny published a video on his Youtube channel where he claims that he is talking to one of the participants of his alleged poisoning, allegedly in Tomsk, allegedly by the FSB, allegedly a newcomer.

The police and the prosecutor’s office are likely to open a criminal case against Alexei Navalny because of the fake video he posted on the Internet. There is a possibility that the article of the criminal case will be «for slander», especially against the law enforcement agencies, namely the Federal Security Service of Russia.

Video description from Navalny Live channel, Youtube: (Conversation with a murderer, full version. Alexei Navalny speaks with military chemist Konstantin Kudryavtsev, an FSB officer and a member of the poisoner killer group. The conversation took place at 7:27 a.m., Dec. 14, hours before the publication of the investigation into the group of FSB assassins who attempted to kill Navalny. Listen carefully and help spread the word).

And here is the actual transcript of the call, published on Alexei Navalny’s official website (navalny.com):

Transcript of the call:

Kudryavtsev: Yes, Artem, welcome.

Navalny: Konstantin?

Kudryavtsev: Hello.

Navalny: Hello, Konstantin Borisovich?

Kudryavtsev: Yes, yes, yes.

Navalny: Hello. My name is Maxim Sergeyevich Ustinov, Nikolai Platonovich Patrushev’s assistant. Your phone number was given to me by Vladimir Bogdanov. Sorry for the early call, I need 10 minutes of your time. What?

Kudryavtsev: Yes, yes, I’m listening.

Navalny: Management is once again… a new iteration of discussions. They will probably ask you to prepare a report later, but I am now making a report for Nikolai Platonovich. At the Security Council, all this will be discussed at the highest level. I need one paragraph, just a brief insight from team members: what went wrong with us? Why was there a complete failure with Navalny in Tomsk? Write down your opinion, tell me, please, I will write it down, and later you will mention it in your report.

Kudryavtsev: Was there a failure in Omsk?

Navalny: No, in Tomsk. I mean in Tomsk.

Kudryavtsev: In Tomsk?

Navalny: Yes.

Kudryavtsev: And what happened in Tomsk?

Navalny: Konstantin Borisovich?

Kudryavtsev: Yes, yes, yes.

Navalny: Did you hear what I told you? I’m calling on behalf of Patrushev.

Kudryavtsev: No, I understand perfectly, I’m just trying to remember, what happened in Tomsk?

Navalny: Well, why did you go to Omsk on the 25th?

Kudryavtsev: To Omsk or to Tomsk?

Navalny: You went to Omsk on the 25th, there was an operation in Tomsk. And now I will make a short — a short version of the report, what happened there. Vladimir Mikhailovich will ask you to write a longer version later. I understand that this is another time, but the leadership for the Security Council is asking me to prepare the documents now. Therefore, you will help me very much and will not delay Nikolai Platonovich.

Kudryavtsev: I would love to help, but I’m on coronavirus right now, at home.

Navalny: Well, that’s why I’m calling you…

Kudryavtsev: Let me give you this… And Makshakov? How about getting in touch with Makshakov?

Navalny: I’ll call Makshakov, too, of course. Well, I mean, I’m going to… It’s a simple procedure. I will now call Aleksandrov, Makshakov, Tayakin, and I will ask each of them for a two-paragraph explanation, because I have to make a two-page report in the end. You know who I’m giving a two-page report to. I do not want to throw names around here, but I would not have called you at 7 in the morning, and I would not have called Bogdanov at 7 in the morning if it was not an urgent situation. So I just have it here: «Kudryavtsev, colon, thinks so and so. Why didn’t it work out and what do we need to… Why was it bad and what do we need to do to make it good?

Kudryavtsev: Mm-hmm.

Navalny: I’m writing.

Kudryavtsev: I would write, but I’m quarantined at home right now.

Navalny: So you tell me.

Kudryavtsev: I have a subscription. If you talk to Makshakov, he’s this situation…

Navalny: I’ll talk to him.

Kudryavtsev: I can contact him, too, and explain it to him.

Navalny: Konstantin. I’ll talk to Makshakov. You just hear me, please. I’ll talk to Makshakov. Now… and, there, written documents, of course, you to Bogdanov you will do later. Right now I just need to… I’m calling everybody, including your colleagues. I just need a paragraph of text from you. What do you think… The main problem of the failure of the Tomsk operation. I’m writing it down.

Kudryavtsev: Well, I don’t have all the information right now.

Navalny: Naturally. You… to the extent that you have the information. Hello? I’m writing. Let me help you. Let’s just take another… Roughly speaking, on a ten-point scale, how do you rate Aleksandrov’s work? Clearly, he is your colleague, but nevertheless.

Kudryavtsev: Aleksandrov?

Navalny: Yes.

Kudryavtsev: It’s a good job, yes. My assessment is good.

Navalny: How do you rate Tayakin’s leadership qualities? Kudryavtsev: Coordination of the team.

Kudryavtsev: Tayakin was not there. Osipov was there.

Navalny: I know that Tayakin wasn’t there, that Osipov was there, but nevertheless Tayakin took part in the operation, right?

Kudryavtsev: Honestly, I have no such information, I can’t say anything.

Navalny: All right, how do you rate Osipov on a ten-point scale? Wait a minute, I’m writing it down.

Kudryavtsev: Good, yes, yes. I rate him well.

Navalny: Okay. Then this is a logical question, don’t you agree. I have to, like, just explain to Patrushev now. If you say that you evaluate both Aleksandrov and Osipov well, why didn’t it work out?

Kudryavtsev: Well, I have asked myself this question more than once, by the way. It’s kind of like, well, according to the situation… That the information I have, and I don’t have all the information…

Navalny: I understand.

Kudryavtsev: You understand, right? I own the information that I have directly. Or what is being brought to my attention.

Navalny: This is precisely the purpose of the report. (unintelligible) Yes, yes, yes.

Kudryavtsev: Huh?

Navalny: Yes, yes, yes, yes. I interrupted you. I’m just saying that this is exactly why we’re doing the report, so that everyone can look at it from their own bell towers. So now I am only interested in your opinion.

Kudryavtsev: Well, I assess the work well. At least, well, the work is done, as if, well, as if, well, did as if, all … worked through the issue. I think so. More than once.

Navalny: That’s the point. I have worked on it more than once.

Kudryavtsev: You are calling from Troyanov, aren’t you?

Navalny: What’s that?

Kudryavtsev: Are you calling from Troyanov, Artem? I just got Troyanov’s phone number, Artem.

Navalny: Well, of course, I’m calling through the… the general system. Bogdanov asked me to call, that’s how I’m calling, so you just don’t bother. Okay. The obvious question, the answer to which should be in my paper. If you rate both Osipov’s and Alexandrov’s work well, why the failure? What needs to be done in the future to make sure none of this happens?

Kudryavtsev: Ugh… Well, in our work, you know, there are always a lot of questions and nuances, and we always try to take everything into account as much as possible, so there are no miscalculations and so on. You understand, right?

Navalny: I understand. What’s most important is that here…

Kudryavtsev: The question has probably been worked out thoroughly. I think so. Well, this is my opinion. At least, if you take, well, what has been done before, but there are always nuances. In every, as it were, in every work there are nuances of some kind, right? The whole situation has turned from one side to the other, well … how to say it right, fyi …

Navalny: Well?

Kudryavtsev: Well, I also thought that maybe … Well, they put … You know, right? He flew and landed, and all of this. The situation turned out to be… not in our favor. I think so. If it had lasted a little longer, things might have turned out differently.

Navalny: A little longer than what? Konstantin Borisovich?

Kudryavtsev: Flying.

Navalny: Would it have taken a little longer to fly?

Kudryavtsev: Well, maybe, yes. If he had flown a bit longer, for example, and not landed there abruptly as he had known it, things might have gone wrong. I mean, the work of paramedics on the runway and so on. And, accordingly, thereafter… hello?

Navalny: Yes, the plane landed after 40 minutes. This should have been taken into account in the planning of the operation. You can’t say that the plane landed just instantly. They miscalculated the dose, the probabilities, why?

Kudryavtsev: Well, I can’t say why. Kudryavtsev: Well, I can’t say why. They calculated everything, so I understand that they calculated everything with a margin.

Navalny: Okay. Let’s ask the question, which is… In front of me… I’m speaking frankly with you. You should understand me, too. There’s the leadership, which, you know, how the leadership behaves…

Kudryavtsev: Yes, yes, yes.

Navalny: Come on, quick, now, for the fifteenth time there, write to everyone. Here I am writing. Here I have a question written down. What is the problem? There was Kaliningrad, then there was Tomsk. Why were not the problems of Kaliningrad taken into account, so that everything would happen normally in Tomsk.

Kudryavtsev: I don’t know anything about Kaliningrad. I have no information.

Navalny: Okay.

Kudryavtsev: I know, the only thing is that there were… not about Kaliningrad, I know about Tomsk, that there were, as it were. In Kaliningrad I don’t know what the situation is. That’s why I have no information.

Navalny: Okay, tell me please. Here’s the mechanics directly. How was the substance used? Do you believe that the right choice was made?

Kudryavtsev: Yes… Yes, I think so.

Navalny: If you briefly describe it to me in the report, how was it… how do you properly describe it? How was it done, how to briefly explain it?

Kudryavtsev: Well, that’s something that should be explained in operational communication, not by…

Navalny: Well, naturally, I… You understand who I’m writing my report for.

Kudryavtsev: Yes, yes, yes.

Navalny: It’s not like that in the operative communication. I’m a person who doesn’t know much and doesn’t want to get into the details. How can I briefly explain to him how it was done? Just so that I, well, formulate it accurately.

Kudryavtsev: How was what done?

Navalny: How was the substance applied?

Kudryavtsev: Well, I say it’s better on operational communication. I, you know, I was working afterwards.

Navalny: Yes, I know.

Kudryavtsev: I’m in the very, like, it’s… at least, the fact that, like, after we looked, there, like… did our activities there, these… well, yes, the fact that the finding may have been. How should I say this?

Navalny: Well, tell it like it is.

Kudryavtsev: Where did they put… Well, as it were, there, yes… Did, yes, the deed. Here. Kudryavtsev: So… Maybe there was some chance of detection afterwards.

Navalny: Well, look. Again. We’re having a frank conversation. You understand why I’m writing all this. The bottle, the scandal, television, they found it, discovered it. The management says, «Explain it to us. Why was it found, why was it on the bottle? And we have to explain them briefly.

Kudryavtsev: There was nothing on the bottle.

Navalny: Okay.

Kudryavtsev: At least, I think so.

Navalny: So where was it? Where did it come from on the bottle then? Or was there nothing? Was it invented or something?

Kudryavtsev: No, there wasn’t anything on the bottle. Well, at least the one I know.

Navalny: Well?

Kudryavtsev: Maybe some information has not been brought to my attention. I kind of, you know… more specific detailed questions. Stanislav Valentinovich, we have him on the subject completely, like, a hundred percent. He has this information for sure.

Navalny: That’s why Bogdanov gave me your phone number, so I could call you. Because the task the leadership has set before me is to collect their opinions from everyone. Here, then, the question is not more about making organizational conclusions, but rather about how to act normally in the future. And that the leadership — the senior leader — clearly understands what happened. So, again, I apologize that I’ve stunned you this morning, but they’re pounding the table with their fists and saying, give me two pages to make sure he understands everything. Here, what should I write in these two pages?

Kudryavtsev: You called me first, right? Kudryavtsev: I’m sorry.

Navalny: What?

Kudryavtsev: Well, you were the first one to call? You haven’t called anyone else?

Navalny: I started with you. I have a list, I’ll call everyone now. But I don’t really need you to tell me everything for everyone. Just tell me your point of view. What would you do differently? If you were planning an operation, how would you have done this thing differently?

Kudryavtsev: Well, you have to think specifically. Depending on the situation, on the circumstances. Depending on possible ways. Oh, not ways, places, yes. There are a lot of nuances here, I say. And you have to take into account every nuance, every little thing. I think, well, to me, well, in my opinion, it was kind of planned and… well, it was all planned correctly. There was no way it could have been any other way. If it hadn’t been planned right, nothing would have been done. There. I think.

Navalny: Konstantin. Yes?

Kudryavtsev: I say, the fact itself, yes. The method was, well, it seems to me, was chosen correctly, but there are always some nuances all the same.

Navalny: So again. What method was chosen?

Kudryavtsev: Huh?

Navalny: What method was chosen?

Kudryavtsev: Well, don’t you know?

Navalny: Well, I know something, I don’t know something, but I have to ask you. I have written: talk and ask some questions. Here I am asking.

Kudryavtsev: Well, I can’t tell you anything on this phone.

Navalny: Well, that’s why I call, because I need some urgent paperwork.

Kudryavtsev: I… Stanislav Valentinovich, he will tell you how it all happened. I can’t tell you on this phone. I can’t tell you on this kind of phone.

Navalny: Okay.

Kudryavtsev: That’s why… just because of this, I would say.

Navalny: Have you seen me calling you through the switchboard? You can tell me. I coordinated this conversation with Bogadnov.

Kudryavtsev: I didn’t hear from anyone. Neither Bogdanov called yesterday, nor Makshakov…

Navalny: Well, because only this morning…

Kudryavtsev: Oh, really only now?

Navalny: Of course. They woke me up at 5 a.m. myself and told me: go ahead. I’ve been running around all morning, frantically looking for all sorts of phones. So if you… I… Do you want me to call you in a little while on the operative line. Well, it’ll just save me a lot of time if you tell me now. Because I’ve got… I’ve got a list of thirteen people to call.

Kudryavtsev: Wow… Yes… Can you tell me your name, I’ll write it down?

Navalny: Maxim Sergeyevich Ustinov. Assistant to Nikolai Platonovich Patrushev.

Kudryavtsev: Uh-huh.

Navalny: Okay. I still have questions. First, where are the things? What happened to the things?

Kudryavtsev: What about the things?

Navalny: Well, where are Navalny’s things?

Kudryavtsev: They were, well… I saw them last time in Omsk. We left them there. We went there, we worked.

Navalny: Yes, you flew there to Omsk on the 25th, right?

Kudryavtsev: Yes, I would remember. I guess, more or less, yes. I have it written down at work.

Navalny: So what exactly happened to them, to these things?

Kudryavtsev: Oh, their final destination?

Navalny: Yes.

Kudryavtsev: Well, their final destination — I have no idea. I can, you know, what can I say? When we arrived, we were given them by the local guys from Omsk. From this police… what is it?

Navalny: Transport police. Navalny: Yeah.

Kudryavtsev: Yes, yes. They gave us a box from them.

Navalny: Yeah.

Kudryavtsev: We worked with the box. And we returned it to the local guys. And the local boss… in principle, I have his phone number, if you want I can give it to him.

Navalny: Yes, let’s do it. I’ll write it down.

Kudryavtsev: He gave me this box… I told him to give it back. Most likely, he gave it to these guys from the transport police.

Navalny: Okay, give me the chief’s phone number, please.

Kudryavtsev: Hang on, okay?

Navalny: Yes, of course.

Kudryavtsev: Yes. Hello?

Navalny: Yes, yes, yes.

Kudryavtsev: Just a second. Hello?

Navalny: Yes, I’m writing.

Kudryavtsev: 8962.

Navalny: 962.

Kudryavtsev: 059.

Navalny: 059.

Kudryavtsev: 2595.

Navalny: 2595. And his name is?

Kudryavtsev: Mikhail… I didn’t write his patronymic.

Navalny: Mikhail Pavlovich…

Kudryavtsev: Yes, he is the head of BT. If you could ask around and see…

Navalny: I’ll find out, no problem.

Kudryavtsev: He will tell us where.

Navalny: Let’s elaborate on the things. Was there anything on them? A box. You mean something was found on it? What exactly were they doing with it?

Kudryavtsev: Well, we went twice.

Navalny: Uh-huh.

Kudryavtsev: The first time it was a package. The usual one.

Navalny: Yeah.

Kudryavtsev: There was a bag with seals, everything… Everything was torn. There were things in it. They were wet. There were things, respectively, what was there … the suit there, these underpants, socks there, a mask. A T-shirt, respectively, yes.

Navalny: So, what procedure did you implement? What did you do with it? So that I reported.

Kudryavtsev: We did the processing.

Navalny: The processing according to this methodology, Biysk, right?

Kudryavtsev: Biysk?

Navalny: Well, correct me if I’m wrong…

Kudryavtsev: No, I don’t know the Biysk method.

Navalny: Okay, then what?

Kudryavtsev: Or maybe I know, but I don’t understand what I’m talking about right now…

Navalny: What exactly was being done then, can you explain?

Kudryavtsev: Well, they washed them down and treated them with solutions. So that they don’t… well, how should I say it. Well, we treated it. So there wouldn’t be any traces.

Navalny: All things were treated?

Kudryavtsev: No, not all at first. First, the main things. The suit there, the underpants. That’s it all. (unintelligible) When the box was brought, we had already… almost… well, everything, everything was processed for the last time.

Kudryavtsev: Is there any chance that Navalny’s wife is in the hospital or someone cut off a piece of clothing and it got…

Kudryavtsev: No. No.

Navalny: There is no such probability?

Kudryavtsev: No. Everything was in one piece. There were no traces of anything being cut off and so on.

Navalny: In your opinion, how did the Germans discover all this in the end?

Kudryavtsev: Well, they got the Bundeswehr involved, military chemists worked there.

Navalny: It’s possible that he had some left on his body…

Kudryavtsev: I don’t know, maybe there are some methods of detection…

Navalny: In what place on his body could there have been traces that they found?

Kudryavtsev: The body?

Navalny: On the body, on the body on his where could they have found?

Kudryavtsev: They didn’t find any on the body anywhere. Well, that’s my opinion.

Navalny: Well, okay, look…

Kudryavtsev: They didn’t examine the body, they probably worked on the blood.

Navalny: Well, we don’t know how they worked. I just have to study everything…

Kudryavtsev: That’s just my guess. On the body I think that… They must have washed it, washed it, directly in our hospital for sure.

Navalny: So, who… who in the Omsk hospital can I talk to to find out if they washed the body?

Kudryavtsev: No, I don’t have this information, but Mikhail, who is here….

Navalny: Which Pavlovich?

Kudryavtsev: The head of the PT… Oh, you already found the phone, right? Uh-huh. He, he has all the information. How was it, what was done.

Navalny: Sorry, this is a naive question. But based on what I wrote down, I will be asked. The clothes were washed because there could have been traces on them. So there could have been marks on the body. But you’re saying that there couldn’t have been marks on the body. Why not?

Kudryavtsev: Well, it seems to me that it just absorbs quickly. It doesn’t leave traces. Makshakov will tell you this in more detail. I don’t have all the information. I don’t even know what was done there. I mean, you know, right?

Navalny: Well, I understand.

Kudryavtsev: I have no information.

Navalny: Konstantin Borisovich…

Kudryavtsev: I was told, I came, I did it, and I left. All the rest… all the rest of the information about who drove there, who did it, I don’t have that information.

Navalny: I’ll talk to them all myself. Again, I need your specific view, because the leadership said to gather information from everyone and make a general picture. So let’s summarize again what we have. So, in your opinion, this… figure survived… because the plane landed too soon, right? The main reason?

Kudryavtsev: Well, it seems to me that yes. That’s the only reason. If it had been there a little bit longer, maybe everything would have ended differently. You see, the coincidence of circumstances… This is the bad factor in our work, yes, maybe.

Navalny: I see. By coincidence we mean circumstance number one: the plane landed, circumstance number two is what?

Kudryavtsev: Well, this is what it is… The ambulance arrived and so on. They carried out these primary measures that they usually … Well, the medics look at the condition. They injected some kind of antidote, respectively. Presumably — presumably, this, yes. Or even though… well, the symptoms are similar.

Navalny: Well, yes.

Kudryavtsev: They acted directly according to the instructions, the medics. So because of the ambulance, yes.

Navalny: Yeah.

Kudryavtsev: That’s also a factor, as it were. They drove the ambulance. What happened next is that they took him to this hospital. There, they also took some measures, depending on the symptoms and all of this. I guess that’s how it was. It seems to me that this played a role.

Navalny: Okay, one more time. Plan. I don’t understand, and based on the questions that the leadership put in front of me, they don’t understand. Was the plan that he would give up the ends in the hotel or on the plane?

Kudryavtsev: I have no information about that.

Navalny: So the planning was based on where all this would happen?

Kudryavtsev: If I knew, I would tell you. I don’t want to lie.

Navalny: You don’t have to lie.

Kudryavtsev: Well, I tell it like it is. I don’t have this information, as it should have been. There was no information. They didn’t bring it up. I can only speculate that perhaps all this should have happened there.

Navalny: So guess. That’s why I’m calling. What is your assumption?

Kudryavtsev: My guess?

Navalny: Yes.

Kudryavtsev: Well, it’s just my guess. I don’t know … I didn’t know the whole plan. You understand, right?

Navalny: I totally understand.

Kudryavtsev: I get the information that I need to know. I have not been told anything else. I… making things up, too, is kind of bad, I think.

Navalny: Right. Inventing things is bad, but the task I have in front of me, if you’ll excuse me for repeating it like a parrot, is this: talk to everyone and let them make up their own opinion… well, every person who sits inside… In our work, as you absolutely right, everything depends on chance, on some strange things. That’s why every person’s opinion…

Kudryavtsev: That’s how it is, that’s how it is.

Navalny: So everyone’s opinion on what is right and what is wrong is very important. And your opinion is very important. So here we go. Your view in general on the whole picture. Well, you understand, the consequences of all this will haunt us for quite a long time.

Kudryavtsev: Yes, I understand it very well. I also read and watch TV. I read the Internet.

Navalny: Well, of course.

Kudryavtsev: They didn’t count on all this, I think. Well, as it seems to me. Well, as it seems to me, it doesn’t, but I’m sure that everything has gone wrong.

Navalny: It wasn’t counted on, to put it bluntly. That’s why I need to understand.

Kudryavtsev: (unintelligible). Well, I think it should have, in all likelihood, in the near, there, some time. I mean, maybe even… And maybe that’s what the flight was designed for. Because, you know, the flight time is about three hours. That’s a big… If we had not landed, maybe it would have had a different effect. And the result would have been different. I think that the plane played a decisive role. Well, not decisive… But one of the factors. The fact that the plane was grounded and the initial actions were carried out. Here.

Navalny: How much time elapsed between the poisoning and the time he passed out?

Kudryavtsev: I have no such information. I do not know the time when everything was done. That is, when it was done, yes. I don’t know, I have no such information.

Navalny: Okay…

Kudryavtsev: That’s for sure Makshakov will say for sure. Well, guys, maybe. Well, maybe not, but they will.

Navalny: No, I see. Yes. So I also have a strange question among my questions. You and Navalny have traveled how many times? And you went to Kirov in ’17, right? What do you think of his personality?

Kudryavtsev: Whose? Him?

Navalny: Yes, Navalny. Whose…

Kudryavtsev: Well, I mean, how do I assess his personality?

Navalny: Well, that’s why I said it wrong, it’s a strange question.

Kudryavtsev: He’s careful, very… let’s put it this way… afraid of everything. Well, on the one hand, yes. And on the other hand — he goes everywhere, there, and so on, yes. He changes numbers from time to time. He’s very cautious in that respect. So he must have had a gut feeling that he was… Well, he doesn’t hide the fact that he was followed and so on. You know, right? Hello…

Navalny: Yes, yes, yes, I’m listening. I’m just… I’m recording.

Kudryavtsev: He said on his blog more than once that he was being followed by the police. He’s very careful in that respect. He never makes any unnecessary moves. My opinion, I mean, like, yeah. He’s careful. Careful, careful.

Navalny: So, is there a chance that someone in the group has seen someone’s face? And recognizes them by sight?

Kudryavtsev: Oh, that’s unlikely. It’s always strictly approached.

Navalny: I have information…

Kudryavtsev: The clothes, the change of clothes.

Navalny: So I have information that once the members of the group flew with him on the same flight, was that the case?

Kudryavtsev: Oh, I have this information, unfortunately … well, as if, I do not know, (unintelligible) did not say anything. Usually take always different flights on purpose. Even if a group flies … of several, there, brigades, then one flies one flight, the other flies another flight. Well, they always try to do it that way. I do not know, I have no information here.

Navalny: So you do not know?

Kudryavtsev: I don’t know, honestly.

Navalny: On a scale of one to ten, what is the likelihood that he or members of his group or crew might have taken photos or made recordings of someone? Could someone accidentally get on camera?

Kudryavtsev: Well, given our current … there are cameras everywhere, well, all the same, when they work (unintelligible) close and so on. You know, right?

Navalny: Yeah.

Kudryavtsev: In terms of everything else, we only work when operatives give us the okay. So they explain the situation to us, and we say whether we want to go or not. So we always have to exclude the possibility of taking someone off, and so on. You understand, right?

Navalny: I see.

Kudryavtsev: Maximum secrecy is the first thing. So that no one takes pictures, no one saw anything unnecessary, and so on. So this is always excluded.

Navalny: How do you personally assess the work of operatives?

Kudryavtsev: Who took part?

Navalny: Yes.

Kudryavtsev: Well, with those with whom I worked, I assess well.

Navalny: Let me write down the last name and phone number.

Kudryavtsev: Whose?

Navalny: Well, here are your contacts, who… With whom you can discuss it. If, I think, I will hardly contact them, but if the leadership says so I can do it promptly.

Kudryavtsev: Okay, well, I don’t remember all the guys. I didn’t go that often.

Navalny: Well, the main who?

Kudryavtsev: Well, Mikhail, this I can say.

Navalny: Well, writing. Mikhail… ah, well, Pavlovich who? Kudryavtsev: Well, I see.

Kudryavtsev: Yeah, I don’t even remember the rest of the guys, it was a long time ago.

Navalny: Yeah.

Kudryavtsev: Year 17 was not yesterday or six months ago. I don’t even keep contacts, this. Well, on such things. I kept this one, because we have contacted him more than once. Then we went the second time. We also quickly got in touch with him and got everything done.

Navalny: So how many operations did we have with Navalny in total?

Kudryavtsev: I have no questions for the guys, as it were, everything is well organized and the logistics and the event are always well organized. We had no criticisms.

Navalny: So, there are operational…

Kudryavtsev: On this issue, there, I don’t remember how many… I remember that I was there in Kirov, in Kirov everything. And I don’t remember anymore.

Navalny: In Kirov were… So, we have operational information, maybe in connection with this… and it’s all connected that they are preparing some publications there. And maybe that’s why I was asked to contact everybody. And allegedly he suspects that there were more attempts. What… what… what could we be talking about? What can he, Navalny himself, know about himself, how many times… He himself will say: they tried to poison me so many times. What do you think he might say?

Kudryavtsev: What can he think about this?

Navalny: Yes.

Kudryavtsev: Well, I don’t know. To be honest, I don’t know anything about trying anything else. I heard him say something. That there were other attempts there. But what it was about, I don’t even know. Maybe there was something, but it didn’t go through me.

Navalny: Okay, okay. You have been very helpful. Let me go through my papers again. Okay, the plane — we have an answer to that question. The medical help — we have it. Appreciate the work of your colleagues. Correct me as I go along if I said something wrong. Accident… Okay, Pontayev. How do you rate Pandayev’s work?

Kudryavtsev: And who is that?

Navalny: Well, he worked on the spot. Vladimir Alexandrovich Paniaev. Hello?

Kudryavtsev: Yes, yes, yes… Paniaev…

Navalny: You don’t know him?

Kudryavtsev: I don’t know him, no, I’ve never even crossed his path.

Navalny: Okay, okay.

Kudryavtsev: Maybe the guys have crossed paths…

Navalny: Okay. I’ll discuss it with Stanislav Valentinovich then. So the clothes have been processed, and everything is fine?

Kudryavtsev: Well, yes, the last time we gave them back, they were all… clean.

Navalny: There won’t be any surprises with the clothes?

Kudryavtsev: Well, that’s why we went several times.

Navalny: We went several times to process the clothes. Let’s do it again. I have data that you did it on August 25, and the second time?

Kudryavtsev: We went a little later, maybe two weeks later, or a week later.

Navalny: A week after August 25th? You don’t remember exactly?

Kudryavtsev: No, unfortunately, I don’t remember. Makshakov will tell us.

Navalny: Okay. Who else went with you?

Kudryavtsev: With me?

Navalny: Yes.

Kudryavtsev: Vasily Kalashnikov.

Navalny: Ka-lash-ni-kov.

Kudryavtsev: But his last name was probably not mentioned, right?

Navalny: No, I don’t have his name on the list, it’s strange…

Kudryavtsev: So, the leadership has decided that they don’t have (unintelligible).

Navalny: Well, yes, okay, that’s, yes… Okay, I’ll ask Bogdanov to clarify the question. Okay, so you think nothing could have been left on the body?

Kudryavtsev: Well, I think not.

Navalny: The main…

Kudryavtsev: Well, I think so, at least.

Navalny: Well, naturally.

Kudryavtsev: I don’t know, like, what they were doing, well, what exactly. Do you understand what I’m talking about?

Navalny: I do.

Kudryavtsev: I don’t know what was there. And in terms of properties, and so on, in terms of penetration, I don’t know either. I think that if something was done, it is unlikely that something could have remained there. This is my opinion, and I give the information directly … how to say … well, as I assume. I have no such information. At least (unintelligible).

Navalny: Well, tell me, what item of clothing… What was the main item of clothing the emphasis on? What is the most risky item of clothing in our theory?

Kudryavtsev: Well, briefs.

Navalny: Underpants.

Kudryavtsev: (unintelligible)

Navalny: What-what?

Kudryavtsev: Risky in what way?

Navalny: Well, where could be the maximum concentration.

Kudryavtsev: Well, cowards.

Navalny: In what part of the underpants… Is it the inner seam, the outer seam, adjoining where? Because I have a block of questions about that. I’ll be discussing this with Makshakov, but I need your information, too.

Kudryavtsev: Well, the internal ones worked. Well, at least there was processing.

Navalny: Well, can you imagine the cowards? Yes? And in what place are the most…

Kudryavtsev: (unintelligible) That’s where the groin.

Navalny: In the crotch of the underpants?

Kudryavtsev: Well, the so-called codpiece … There are seams there, so the seams …

Navalny: Okay, wait, this is important, now, just a second. Who passed the information that the codpiece should be trimmed?

Kudryavtsev: I assume. They told me to work the underwear, the inner part.

Navalny: Who said that? Makshakov?

Kudryavtsev: Yes.

Navalny: «The inside»… Now, I’m writing… «the inside seams of underpants»… Okay, so what color underpants are gray? What color underpants, do you remember?

Kudryavtsev: Well, they were blue.

Navalny: Blue…

Kudryavtsev: Makshakov, you’d better get this information from him…

Navalny: Are they intact? So they can be returned to him, theoretically? We won’t do that, but they are intact and everything is fine.

Kudryavtsev: Yes, everything is clear.

Navalny: You can’t tell visually from them… they are not faded, there are no stains, nothing?

Kudryavtsev: No, no, nothing. Well, they are in good condition, clean.

Navalny: But the pants…

Kudryavtsev: The pants are the same area, the inside, where the underpants are. Maybe there was something there, too. Well, as it were, also washed there.

Navalny: Uh-huh.

Kudryavtsev: Well, no, this is presumed, because there is contact…

Navalny: I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you.

Kudryavtsev: Well, there’s some contact with pants, and maybe there was something there. The pants were also treated. They’re clean, too; everything is fine.

Navalny: Okay. Was it a mistake at all, or was the contact method of reporting correct?

Kudryavtsev: Well, that’s not for me to decide…

Navalny: What’s your opinion?

Kudryavtsev: The leadership thought so, so it was probably right. It’s a good way.

Navalny: Well, if he survived, then it’s not so good. You too, you should understand me correctly…

Kudryavtsev: Circumstances, again, I say, have developed in such a way that the situation went like this. So, how to say…

Navalny: Okay.

Kudryavtsev: They chose, so, accordingly, somehow they… The way is good, yes. I agree. There is a contact. The contact will be good, respectively. The penetration is good. If they chose it, respectively, they thought it was right. Depending on the situation, there, on the experience, there, I guess.

Navalny: Okay, well… So that’s what I asked you, that’s what I asked you. Is there anything else you want to add? What else do you think is important or essential that I should mention in my report?

Kudryavtsev: No, I think there is already a lot of information.

Navalny: Okay. Kudryavtsev: Okay.

Kudryavtsev: At least I have this in my head right now… Who will you call right now, if that’s not a secret?

Navalny: No secret, but I will be very grateful if you don’t warn anyone. Because I need their opinion. As you understand, I don’t need you to agree with each other. In that sense, I am honestly and frankly telling you that…

Kudryavtsev: It’s not about an agreement, it’s just that I was the first one to show up. Unfortunately, no one called me, neither Bogdanov, nor Makshakov. To be honest, I’m dumbfounded by all these questions, you know, (unintelligible) from this situation…

Navalny: Konstantin Borisovich. Everyone is dumbfounded. Can you imagine how dumbfounded I am, I don’t know anything about this at all, and they called me at 5 a.m. and told me to go and find out. So I call you and ask stupid questions. Because I know very little about it. But that’s the way the job is, they called, so you have to do it. All right. Then I will call your colleagues now, and it would be great if you do not share details with them for some time, so that their story would be some more.

Kudryavtsev: Well, I’m not going to share the details, I’ll at least call Makshakov now, he is aware of everything…

Navalny: Of course he knows. I phoned Makshakov earlier this morning. He’s actually… I talked to Bogdanov and Makshakov this morning. Everything is fine.

Kudryavtsev: And Bogdanov gave my last name? His last name? Well, guys, respectively?

Navalny: Well, naturally…

Kudryavtsev: I’ll take your phone number to get in touch with you.

Navalny: Yes, of course. Write to me. 916.

Kudryavtsev: Yes.

Navalny: 912-24-87.

Kudryavtsev: 24-87?

Navalny: Yes. Maxim Sergeyevich.

Kudryavtsev: Yes, I wrote it down.

Navalny: Good. If I need any more information, I’ll probably be calling for a couple of hours, so stay in touch, okay?

Kudryavtsev: I’m always in touch, day and night, I have already made a habit of it.

Navalny: I see…

Kudryavtsev: I take my phone everywhere, to the bathroom and to the toilet.

Navalny: Yes, yes, that’s right… Still, I don’t understand one thing. Did they put it on their underpants? Or on their underpants and on their pants? Because I have double information, and I can’t understand it.

Kudryavtsev: Makshakov will tell us exactly.

Navalny: No, well, they will tell me, I want you to tell me.

Kudryavtsev: No, I don’t know where it was applied. I say: We worked on these … Underpants, underpants, and insides, and we looked to see if there were any stains, if there were any stains and so on. There were no stains on the underpants, no visible stains. At least visually. On the pants too, there were fleece pants, such tight pants, you could not see anything on them at all. Moreover, they are blue-dark color, both of them. So, as we were told, that’s how we looked. You couldn’t see anything visually.

Navalny: Okay. I see. Okay. Konstantin Borisovich, thank you very much. We’ll be in touch, and I’ll be in touch again.

Kudryavtsev: Maxim Sergeyevich?

Navalny: Yes?

Kudryavtsev: Hello?

Navalny: Yes, yes, yes.

Kudryavtsev: Oh, excuse me, I have a question… is it okay that we talked to you on the usual phone?

Navalny: Ah, we didn’t discuss anything special. It’s more of an emergency situation, I think it’s no big deal. I agreed with Bogdanov that I will call you on such a connection.

Kudryavtsev: Oh, you have agreed, have you?

Navalny: Yes, yes. Kudryavtsev: All right. We have reached an agreement. Good.

Kudryavtsev: We’ll be in touch then.

Navalny: Good luck, bye.

(Thank you for your attention, the monologue is over.)