Three weeks ago Novaya Gazeta published a material about Alexander Novikov who had asked for political asylum in Denmark, making a confession that he had been an FSB agent working just for 8,000 rubles per month. He was implanted to United Civic Front. Simultaneously with our publication the Danish TV and radio made an item about Mr. Novikov. The reaction by interested parties to Novikov’s statements turned to be rather interesting.     

The Danish public associated the Novikov’s case with the presidential election and the coincided with it report about Russia by Human Rights Watch, dealing with oppressing of civil activities. The Russian embassy in Denmark confirmed to us they have been watching closely the developments on the Novikov’s case and stressed they are ready to meet with him whenever he expresses such a wish.  

The United Civic Front preferred not to boost the scandal about supposed illegal activities by special services. The spokesperson for UCF, Marina Litvinovich said to a Novaya Gazeta correspondent “Well, that’s good you wrote about it, and what?”   

We failed to have an official reaction by the press office of Moscow UFSB. The head of the office Evgeny Kalinovich has been on sick leave since the time of publication and other employees refuse giving any comment. Our written enquiry has not been responded as well.

In the meantime, our two sources in UFSB confirmed that Mr. Novikov told the truth. The source even complained “You see we had checked Novikov and found out he was a kind of swindler”. It appears that that information was considered to be enough for UFSB to be sure about controllability of Novikov. The question of what was the sense of recruiting such a person was answered “We must hit our recruitment target”. 

The other anonymous source said he is shocked with the low professional level of the new generation of operative workers. Answering to a question of what about the law putting a ban on any interference by secret services in the activities of public organizations, this person said it’s always possible to extricate oneself from such a situation. For example, working may be started on another case and the information about a public organization may be included there “just” because the investigated man “accidentally” turned out to be its activist.    

By the way, we found out that Moscow UFSB learnt about the failure of their agent not even from the press but from their superiors giving them a telling-off. 

Mikhail Dmitriev, an activist from UCF, confirmed to a Novaya Gazeta correspondent that Novikov had problems with disbursement of a load. Mr. Dmitriev used to own a small bank that went broke during the default of 1998. When Novikov learnt about his financial experience, he suggested him taking a joint credit so that to pay off other credits, but Dmitriev refused.  

So it remained to ask Mr. Novikov himself to clarify some details, as the circumstances of his recruitment are still unclear. The fugitive agent admitted on the phone to having some problems with disbursement of a consumer credit for the amount of $15,000. Besides, he said that during his first talk with FSB they mentioned his “contacts” with known criminal authorities from Transdniestria. So now it’s clear what Novikov was caught with.   

In the mean time, the situation of the former FSB informer is getting more uncertain. He has already received a letter from Danish immigration authorities notifying him that according to Dublin’s convention he must come back to the country first entered by him after leaving Russia – that’s Finland. After receiving the letter Novikov moved to Sweden where he is staying at the moment.

He left the camp near Copenhagen willingly as some people had been searching for him there who came in a car with diplomatic license number. However, the Russian consul in Denmark Sergei Popkov stated to a Novaya Gazeta correspondent that according to the Danish law a man asking for political asylum is guarded from the representatives of the country he has fled from. Mr. Popkov also remarked that he has no information about any attempts of getting in touch with Mr. Novikov by other employees of the embassy.

The Denmark immigration office refused giving comments on the Novikov’s case, but they said that in such cases a person must leave for Finland, according to the Dublin’s Agreement. The head of the consular service of Sweden Embassy in Moscow also explained that Sweden will have to extradite Novikov to Finland under the same Dublin’s Agreement.

It appears that Alexander Novikov, who has nothing to say in the West in addition to what he has already said, is inconvenient and unneeded in abroad. As he himself reported, the Danish government structures did not try to get in touch with him after the first publication. Moreover, the letter requiring him to leave Denmark was dated 22 February, i.e. next day after Novaya Gazeta publication and the item shown on local TV.  

Mr. Novikov says he still has a hope for Great Britain where he also has asked for asylum. However, an employee from the British Embassy in Denmark Peter Stark informed us that the papers left by Novikov “were not made in accordance with the established order”. “As far as we understood, Mr. Novikov had asked for asylum in Denmark, and according to the Dublin’s convention we shall consider this case as a problem by Danish authorities” added the British official.