Kremlin denies that top official's plane was used to transport cocaine from Argentina to Russia
The plane belonging to Current Russian Security Council Secretary and former Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Nikolai Patrushev was not used to transport suitcases of cocaine as part of a joint Russian-Argentine intelligence operation. A statement to this effect was made by the Russian Security Council on Sunday, Interfax reports.
“This is someone’s imagination and a fake,” the state advisory body stressed. An Interfax source remarked that the aircraft in question was not intended to transport diplomatic post or other cargo.
Furthermore, the foreign media mixed up the dates of Patrushev’s visit to Argentina, the source stated.
Earlier the British news outlet The Telegraph reported that the Security Council secretary may have been involved in a story with Argentine cocaine. A criminal plot was uncovered in December 2016, when Russian Ambassador to Argentina Viktor Koronelli found 12 suitcases with almost 400 kilograms of narcotics in the storage rooms of the Russian diplomatic mission. The Argentine authorities were immediately informed of the incident, and promptly seized the substances. The intelligence agencies of Russia and Argentina then began a joint operation to identify all the members of the criminal group. The operation lasted for more than a year. The cocaine was replaced with flour, and the suitcases were fitted with tracking devices.
The Telegraph theorizes that the operation to transport the suitcases to Russia was carried out by Patrushev himself, when he visited Argentina in December 2017 and signed a memorandum of understanding with Argentine President Mauricio Macri. The news outlet believes that the former FSB director’s plane was used for this purpose.