The former senator and deputy chairman of the Central Bank is connected with the mafia and the United States.

Former senator from the Republic of Mari El Alexander Torshin oversaw the flow of “dirty” money for a Moscow criminal group before he was appointed deputy chairman of the Russian Central Bank last year, Spanish investigators said. Alexander Torshin, when he was deputy chairman of the Federation Council, instructed members of the Taganskaya organized crime group in Moscow how to launder ill-gotten gains through banks and real estate in Spain, according to a confidential report from the Spanish Civil Guard.

The document was prepared following a three-year investigation that ended in 2013. “It is known that in the hierarchy of the organization, Russian politician Alexander Porfiryevich Torshin ranks above Romanov, who calls him ‘godfather’ or ‘boss’” and carries out “operations and investments” at his direction, investigators concluded in the report. Romanov was sentenced in May to nearly four years in prison in Spain after pleading guilty to conducting illegal transactions worth 1.65 million euros ($1.83 million) and $50,000.

A “glorious” biography?

Let us recall that Torshin has been a member of the Federation Council from the Government of the Republic of Mari El since 2001. Today he is the first deputy to the head of the Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, and is responsible for the interaction of the Bank of Russia with the federal authorities. By the way, Torshin was previously the State Secretary of the Central Bank of Russia (with the rank of Deputy Chairman of the Bank). Then he was also responsible for interaction with government bodies, public organizations and the press. It seems that Elvira Nabiullina has hired a “trusted lobbyist” as her deputy. However, has this made the work of the Central Bank more efficient?

Alexander Porfiryevich Torshin first received a mandate as a senator from Mari El in January 2001, and in February 2010, deputies of Mari El delegated Torshin to the upper house of the Russian parliament for a third term. A. Torshin’s powers ended in 2015. The second representative of the republic in the Russian parliament, Natalia Dementyeva, was re-elected to the Federation Council for another term and continues her work there.

Alexander Porfiryevich Torshin is a fairly well-known figure in socio-political circles. This fame sometimes goes far beyond the scope of parliamentary activities and revolves in a variety of areas. But most of all he became famous as an influential lobbyist. He has been engaged in this activity quite professionally and for a long time. Torshin’s activity in recent years has become more reminiscent not of legislative activity, but of the execution of commercial orders.

Case-tobacco?

So, in 2011, Torshin began to actively lobby the interests of tobacco producers. He criticized the anti-smoking bill developed by the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation as allegedly overly strict and restricting human rights to smoke. At the same time, Torshin was not embarrassed by the fact that in the country every year more than half a million people die from diseases caused by smoking. After the anti-tobacco law was supported by the President of the Russian Federation, it became clear that in lobbying the interests of tobacco producers, Torshin directly opposed the initiatives of the federal government.

Following this, Torshin took the side of the beer lobby, becoming a supporter of low excise taxes on beer and promoting the idea that increasing beer consumption would combat the consumption of vodka.

“Naughty”?

For some time, Alexander Porfiryevich’s sphere of interests included the chemical industry, which was far from his education as a lawyer and psychologist, and from his specialized work in the highest legislative body of government. For example, when there was a fierce struggle for control over the Volgograd OJSC Khimprom, Torshin also did not stand aside - he actively promoted the candidacy of Yuri Batrin for the post of general director of the enterprise. His appointment then, by a very fortunate “coincidence,” was sought by Viktor Vekselberg’s Renova.

Another “chemical attack” by Torshin is a speech in defense of the owners of the Togliattiazot chemical plant, who were convicted of concealing part of their profits and fraudulent schemes for withdrawing assets. In 2012, he wrote a letter to the head of the Russian Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, in which he argued that all accusations against the owners of Togliattiazot were unlawful. The Investigative Committee then regarded this demarche of Torshin as an attempt to put pressure on the investigation. And given that the case against the leaders of Togliattiazot is under the special control of A. Bastrykin, Torshin once again spoke out against the federal authorities.

In 2012, Torshin became involved in solving the problems of Russian orphans. He proposed relocating children from orphanages in the Far East and Far North... to families of residents of the North Caucasus. At the same time, Torshin proposed to “kill two birds with one stone”: “to create new jobs in the Caucasus and save on the maintenance of orphans.” According to the senator, the implementation of this measure should relieve the authorities from the need to build and maintain children's institutions. Torshin’s “children’s” project aroused sharp criticism: sending children to places where every other day there are explosions, shots are heard, and where not every adult decides to go, no one in Russia thought was the right idea.

Weapons master?

But here is one of his most “significant” and “large-scale” projects, which Alexander Torshin has been working on for many years. He became famous as a consistent supporter of the legalization and free circulation of weapons in Russia. His statements are striking and frightening: “Weapons discipline. The atmosphere in our society will change, because people will not engage in lawlessness, including law enforcement agencies.

And before doing anything, a person will think. Look at America - everyone there is smiling. It’s paradoxical, but our society will become kinder,” Torshin said at the presentation of an expert report on reforming Russian weapons legislation. Torshin immediately appreciated the scope of this lobbying project, and most likely, his services were not cheap for the customers. According to Torshin, approximately 10.7 million people will be able to purchase weapons if they are legalized. However, according to numerous experts, such “weaponization” of the population will sharply worsen the crime situation in the country. Given this circumstance, the government and the president rejected the idea of ​​legalizing arms trafficking, and Torshin seriously damaged his reputation and received the nickname “deadly senator.”

Torshin’s plans spread widely: with his active assistance, the “Right to Arms” (NGO) movement was created, which began to actively promote the idea of ​​arming society, and almost simultaneously he took the initiative to create the Russian National Arms Union, the ranks of which, in his estimation, will be able to about 14 million people have already joined.

American shooter?

Not everyone knows where this weapons initiative comes from. Being at that time a member of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation and the National Anti-Terrorism Committee, Alexander Porfirievich is also a lifelong member of the US National Rifle Association (NRA). In America he is known as Alex Torshin. He is very proud to enter the Oval Office and attend the annual National Prayer Breakfast hosted by the President of the United States. High-ranking public figures and officials are invited to such breakfasts, including foreign ones, on whom the American leadership would be interested in applying “soft” pressure.

In other words, a member of the Federation Council and the NAC of the Russian Federation, with access to secret information, actually participated in the recruitment activities of a foreign government. What is the US National Rifle Association? This is not just a hobby club organized by bottle shooters. This is a powerful lobbying organization, included by Time and Fortune in the lists of the most influential international lobbying organizations in the world, closely associated with the US Department of Defense and the CIA.

The NRA's mission is to promote arms sales around the world. The Association, of course, is extremely interested in expanding the sales market, and Russia in this regard is more than a tasty morsel for the NRA. Question: What does a high-ranking Russian government official do in the ranks of a foreign lobbying organization? In all likelihood, this kind of activity by Torshin has long caused irritation in Russian government circles. However, in light of the significant deterioration in Russian-American relations, such open lobbying of US interests has become critical for the continuation of Torshin’s career in the country’s highest legislative body.

Novotroitsky plant

Former senator from Mari El Alexander Torshin at one time caused a loss to the state of several billion rubles, but he saved the oligarchs he knew from the Novotroitsk Chromium Compounds Plant. The activities of the Novotroitsk Chromium Compounds Plant are associated with the production of products, during the manufacture of which highly toxic waste accumulates. The environmental hazard of tri- and hexavalent chromium compounds contained in the process sludge from the production of sodium monochromate stored in a sludge storage tank is very high.

These elements are highly toxic to living organisms. Moreover, after entering the Ural River, harmful substances can reach the Caspian Sea downstream, harming natural ecosystems along their entire path. As a result of a request from the Public Chamber of Russia, Rosprirodnadzor experts conducted a detailed environmental study of the situation at the Novotroitsk Chromium Compounds Plant. Massive violations of environmental standards were established at the plant. Rosprirodnadzor issued demands to OJSC NZHS to collect payment for the negative impact on the environment for 2009 in the amount of 1 billion 197 million 596 thousand 456.89 rubles. and for 2010 in the amount of 1 billion 910 million 920 thousand 450.95 rubles.

Powerful lobby

The owners of the Novotroitsk Chromium Compounds Plant tried to challenge the fines of Rosprirodnadzor in numerous arbitration courts, but until the end of 2014, the oligarchs from OJSC NZHS lost all the court cases. Immediately after the court supported the demands of Rosprirodnadzor to collect payment for the negative impact on the environment, the oligarchs from OJSC NZHS turned for help to the then senator from Mari El and Vice-Speaker of the Federation Council Alexander Torshin.

Torshin immediately found a “way out” for the oligarchs from the Novotroitsk Chromium Compounds Plant - they just need to “write off” all debts, due to “the threat of bankruptcy of a strategic enterprise.” We especially emphasize that the interests of the Novotroitsk Chromium Compounds Plant were defended in court by lawyer Stanislav Puginsky (EPAM Law Office), who was an adviser to Alexander Torshin.

On November 18, 2013, the then Vice-Speaker of the Federation Council, Alexander Torshin, wrote an official request to the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia (No. 2.1-27/815) asking “to prevent actions to bankrupt the strategic enterprise of the Novotroitsk Chromium Compounds Plant.” First Deputy Prosecutor General of Russia A.E. Buksman and friend of the lobbyist A.P. Torshina expressed the opinion that the current legislation provides for the possibility of Rosprirodnadzor concluding a settlement agreement with NZHS on reducing fines or completely writing off all debt.

Torshin turns to his friends in the Russian Government for help. Deputy Chairman of the Government of Russia Arkady Dvorkovich (letter dated April 22, 2014 No. AD-P9-2874 instructs the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia and Rosprirodnadzor to consider draft settlement agreements with NZHS. Minutes of the meeting with the First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Government of Russia M.A. Akimov (No. MA-P9 -26pr) Rosprirodnadzor was recommended to immediately conclude a settlement agreement with JSC NZHS However, these instructions and recommendations of the Russian Government do not contain specific instructions on how, by concluding a settlement agreement, the parties will be able to avoid violations of the norms of the current federal legislation!

The position of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of Russia has been unshakable for a long time: NZHS must pay in full so as not to create a precedent for evading environmental payments, which other industrialists will immediately take advantage of. In the department of Sergei Donskoy, an option arose to pay in installments for a three-billion-dollar debt up to 30 years. Here was the compromise “the wolves are fed and the sheep are safe”! At the same time, the minister emphasized that Rosprirodnadzor does not have the authority to conclude a settlement agreement with the oligarchs from the NZHS. This will require a special order from the Russian government on installment payment.

However, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich was not satisfied with this option. In a letter dated June 10, 2014, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Government demands that officials in Rosprirodnadzor and the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources be held accountable for failure to comply with his orders. But the high-ranking official failed to lobby the interests of Alexander Torshin and the oligarchs from NZHS.

All of the above may seem like childish pranks if the security forces take a close look at the published information and prove its accuracy. Then banker Torshin will not soon have to shoot at American stands!

Deputies of the legislative assembly of St. Petersburg adopted a resolution to recall Mironov from the upper house of parliament. Mironov automatically loses not only his senatorial mandate, but also the position of speaker of the Federation Council. According to the regulations of the Federation Council, Alexander Torshin will be appointed acting chairman of the upper house - as the first deputy speaker, Nikolai Tulaev, head of the Federation Council commission on regulations and parliamentary procedures, told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

Alexander Porfiryevich Torshin was born on November 27, 1953 in the village of Mitoga, Ust-Bolsheretsk district, Kamchatka region.

In 1973-1975 served in the USSR Armed Forces.

In 1978, majoring in jurisprudence. Candidate of Legal Sciences, Associate Professor.

He worked as a teacher and associate professor at the Academy of Social Sciences under the CPSU Central Committee.

In 1990-1991 - employee of the department for relations with socio-political organizations of the CPSU Central Committee, worked in the USSR Presidential Administration.

In 1992-1993 - Deputy Head of the Department for Interaction with the Supreme Council and Public Organizations of the Government of the Russian Federation.

In 1993-1995 in the Office of the Council of Ministers - Government of the Russian Federation, successively held the positions of deputy head of the department and head of the department for interaction with the chambers of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, deputy factions and deputies of the Department for interaction with the Federal Assembly and public organizations.

In 1995-1998 - State Secretary of the Central Bank of Russia (with the rank of Deputy Chairman of the Bank), responsible for interaction with government bodies, public organizations and the press.

In 1998-1999 - Plenipotentiary Representative of the Government of the Russian Federation in the State Duma with the rank of Deputy Head of the Government Staff.

Since March 1999, he worked as Deputy General Director - State Secretary of the State Corporation "Agency for Restructuring of Credit Institutions" (GC "ARCO").

Since January 2001, Alexander Torshin has been a member of the Federation Council from the government of the Republic of Mari El - a representative in the Federation Council from the government of the Republic of Mari El (term of office: January 2015).

In January 2002, he was elected deputy chairman of the Federation Council.

Since September 2008 - First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council.

As the First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council, Alexander Torshin organizes the interaction of the Federation Council with the legislative and executive authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in the Central, Volga, North Caucasus and Southern districts of the Russian Federation; with public organizations and religious associations.

Member of the Federation Council Committee on Agricultural and Food Policy and Fisheries Complex, member of the Federation Council Commission on Regulations and Organization of Parliamentary Activities.

He heads the Caucasus Commission of the Council of Legislators, is a member of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAC), a member of the State Anti-Drug Committee (SAK), and deputy chairman of the Victory Public Committee under the President of the Russian Federation.

Few Russian politicians have worked in as many areas of public service as Alexander Torshin. The biography of this man is a kind of manual for novice officials. Although it cannot be said that he did not encounter serious career troubles along his life path. Nevertheless, in most cases, Alexander Porfirievich Torshin successfully dealt with them. Biography, incriminating evidence on him, personal life, as well as awards and achievements of this person will be the subject of our study.

Torshin Alexander Porfirievich was born into the family of Porfiry Torshin in November 1953 in the village of Mitoga, which was located in the Ust-Bolsharetsky district, in the Kamchatka region.

After graduating from school in 1973, he was drafted into the Soviet Army for military service. Having been demobilized from the armed forces, in 1975 he entered the VYUZI Law Institute by correspondence, where he successfully completed his studies in 1978.

In the same 1978, Alexander Torshin got a job at the prosecutor's office of the RSFSR. Here he proved himself to be very good. In this regard, Torshin was invited to work at the Soviet Association of Political Sciences. Then he went to work at the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences, and, finally, at the Academy of Sciences under the CPSU Central Committee and the Presidential Administration, which at that time was M. S. Gorbachev.

In the early 90s, significant changes took place in the country: the Soviet Union collapsed, a course was proclaimed to build a model of a market economy and democratize society. These events, naturally, were reflected in the career of Torshin, who by that time already held prominent government positions.

Since 1992, Alexander Torshin worked in the Government Office, holding the position of deputy in the department for interaction with parliament and organizations. But already in 1993, he began to occupy a similar post in another department - for interaction with the chambers of the Federal Assembly. He was soon promoted to the position of manager. Torshin worked in this department until 1995.

Then, from 1995 to 1998, he went to work as State Secretary of the Central Bank. At the same time, Alexander Torshin holds the post of deputy head of this organization. He left the Central Bank of Russia in 1998, as he returned to work in the government, from which he became a representative in the State Duma. Until 1999, Torshin also held the post of deputy head of the Government Staff. After this, he goes to work for the state company ARCO, where he is state secretary and deputy manager. He worked in this position until 2001.

In 2001, Alexander Torshin became a member of the Federation Council from the Republic of Mari-El. The biography of this person is associated with this post for a long time, until 2015. A year later he becomes deputy chairman of the Federation Council, that is, the second person in this collegial body. His primary task in this position was to organize interaction with the authorities of the North Caucasus and Volga Federal Districts, as well as with various public and religious organizations. Alexander Porfirievich was also a member of the Regulations Committee of the Federation Council.

The most famous legislative projects proposed by Torshin are a proposal to reduce excise taxes on beer and critical reviews of the anti-tobacco law. In 2011, he also proposed a bill that would allow the Russian Constitutional Court to block the verdicts of the European Court, for which he was condemned by opposition forces and human rights activists.

In the fall of 2004, Alexander Torshin became a member of the pro-government United Russia party.

Also in 2004, Torshin, as part of his work in the Federation Council, was assigned to head the commission to investigate the tragedy in Beslan. Its objectives were not only to find those responsible for the large number of victims resulting from the terrorist attack, but also to develop steps to prevent similar incidents in the future.

During the investigation, the commission took testimony from senior federal and regional officials, including Alexander Dzasokhov, Mikhail Fradkov and In addition, Alexander Torshin traveled with the commission to the territory of the republics of Chechnya and Ingushetia. During the investigation, the Federal Commission interacted with the North Ossetian parliamentary commission, which also carried out similar actions.

The investigation was completed in 2006, and the commission's findings received a rather mixed assessment in society. The report was delayed for a long time until it was published at the end of the year. Among the names of the organizers and customers of the terrorist attacks were Shamil Basayeva, Akhmad Maskhadov and the terrorist Abu-Dzeit. At the same time, there was not a word about the officials and civil servants who allowed the Beslan tragedy to happen in the commission’s conclusions. This is the main factor due to which the work of the commission was subjected to sharp criticism from the public.

As part of his duties under the Federation Council, Alexander Porfirievich participated in the work of numerous delegations of election observers in Russia and abroad.

Thus, he was part of a delegation sent to Ukraine in 2004, whose task was to monitor the integrity of the next elections for the post of president of the country. He later stated that although there were some irregularities during the second round, they were not to the extent that they could significantly affect the results of the vote, which resulted in the winner being Viktor Yanukovych. Nevertheless, the Ukrainian opposition demanded re-elections, during which Viktor Yushchenko won.

In 2005, Torshin was already an observer from the Federation Council for the parliamentary elections in the Republic of Chechnya. According to him, there were no violations, and the voting conditions were close to ideal.

In 2006, Alexander Porfiryevich was part of a group of observers of the elections to the Verkhovna Rada in Ukraine, but this time he represented not the Federation Council, but the CIS states. The commission identified a number of shortcomings related to the electoral lists.

In 2008, Torshin became the head of the parliamentary commission to investigate the tragic events in South Ossetia that same year, which resulted in hostilities. He was one of those people who demanded the convening of an international tribunal on this event.

In the fall of 2008, Alexander Porfiryevich was elected to the restored position of first vice-speaker of the Federation Council, which had previously been abolished.

In 2011, the Speaker of the Federation Council S. Mironov was recalled by the body that delegated him to the Federation Council. For this reason, the position of acting speaker, according to the regulations, was assigned to Alexander Torshin. He held this post from May to September 2011, when Valentina Matvienko was elected to the post of head of the Federation Council.

In 2012, Alexander Porfirievich was appointed deputy chairman of the meeting of the Union of Russia and Belarus S.E. Naryshkin, while remaining a member of the Federation Council from the Republic of Mari-El.

The new place of work where Alexander Porfirievich Torshin got a job is the Central Bank of Russia. It was there that he left the Federation Council at the beginning of 2015. What kind of work does Alexander Torshin do there? The Central Bank of the Russian Federation needed him as Deputy Chairman and Secretary of State. Actually, he performed these duties during his previous work at the Central Bank in 1995-1998.

In addition, Alexander Porfirievich Torshin became responsible for interaction with executive authorities and the Federal Assembly. The Central Bank is where he works to this day.

In 2016, Torshin found himself at the center of a major scandal. The Bloomberg agency made public a secret report from the Spanish police, in which Alexander Porfirievich appears as the head of one of the organized crime groups that laundered money in Spain. At the same time, no formal charges were brought.

Alexander Torshin denies any accusations in this case. The Central Bank also denies the participation of its employees in illegal activities.

Torshin is a candidate of legal sciences and has two higher educations.

Among the awards of the Order of Honor, Friendship, them. A. Kadyrov, “Commonwealth”, Anatoly Koni medal, title of Honored Lawyer of the Russian Federation. A.P. Torshin has certain memories associated with each award.

Alexander Porfirievich Torshin is a life member of the National Rifle Association of the United States. He is also a member of the board of trustees of the Practical Shooting Federation.

Torshin is an avid collector of weapons and knows how to shoot a crossbow quite well. Shooting is his life's passion.

Alexander Torshin is married. The couple have two daughters, who have already given them two granddaughters and a grandson.

As you can see, Alexander Porfiryevich’s family is surrounded almost exclusively by women. They are always ready to support their husband and father.

Alexander Torshin is a rather controversial figure. His name is associated with both positive reviews and various scandals. A significant part of his career is connected with work in the Federation Council. And currently he is employed at the Central Bank of Russia in one of the senior management positions.

We managed to learn quite a lot about such a person as Alexander Porfiryevich Torshin. The biography, awards, achievements and personal life of this person have been studied by us. But, despite this, it is quite difficult to give a qualitative assessment of the activities of Alexander Torshin, since there are doubts about the objectivity of some data. But I want to believe that this person will be able to bring a lot of benefit to the state and citizens of the country in the future.

ALL PHOTOS

Torshin was not charged or summoned to court based on the report. The deputy chairman of the Central Bank denies his guilt and claims that his connections with the alleged leader of the Taganskaya organized crime group in Spain, Alexander Romanov, were purely social in nature.
RIA Novosti / Vladimir Fedorenko

Former first vice-speaker of the Federation Council Alexander Torshin, before his appointment as deputy chairman of the Bank of Russia in January 2015, managed the money flows of the mafia in Moscow. Bloomberg reports this with reference to investigation data in Spain. The press service of the Central Bank stated that the publication of the American agency has no basis.

While occupying a position in the Federation Council, Torshin gave instructions to members of the Taganskaya organized crime group based in Moscow. The senator oversaw the laundering of illicit proceeds through Spanish banks and real estate. This is stated in a confidential report from the Spanish Civil Guard, which was seen by Bloomberg, following a three-year investigation that ended in 2013.

The report states that “within the hierarchical structure of the organization, as is known, Russian politician Alexander Porfiryevich Torshin stands above Romanov (the alleged leader of the Taganskaya organized crime group, Alexander Romanov. - Note website), who calls him "godfather" or "boss" and conducts "transactions and investments" on his behalf.

Romanov was sentenced to almost four years in a Spanish prison in May this year after pleading guilty to illegal transactions amounting to 1.65 million euros and 50 thousand dollars. From 2000 to 2005, Romanov was the general director of the Kristall plant. Then he was taken into custody in Moscow on charges of fraud and sentenced to three and a half years. After serving his sentence, Romanov left for Spain. At the end of 2013, he was arrested on the island of Mallorca during a police operation called Dirieba, which was coordinated by Europol.

Torshin was not charged or summoned to court based on the report. The deputy chairman of the Central Bank denies his guilt and claims that his connections with the alleged leader of the Taganskaya organized crime group in Spain, Alexander Romanov, were purely social in nature.

However, a senior Spanish official told Bloomberg on condition of anonymity that prosecuting Torshin is not worth the effort because Russia will not cooperate in cases involving representatives of the highest circles of power. The press services of the Civil Guard and the Spanish Prosecutor's Office did not respond to the agency's requests for comment.

The accusations against Torshin are based on data from his telephone conversations with Romanov in 2012 and 2013, as well as on information from documents seized during a search in the mansion of the alleged leader of the Taganskaya organized crime group in Mallorca. Romanov's lawyer did not respond to the agency's request to comment on the report of the Spanish Civil Guard.

According to a Bloomberg article translated by InoPressa, documents found in Romanov's mansion are related to the raider takeover of the Moscow Department Store shopping center in 2009. From these papers it follows that Torshin used his position in the Federation Council to ask law enforcement agencies to intervene in the proceedings of the Taganskaya organized crime group with the overthrown management of the store, while taking the side of the criminals. In an interview with Bloomberg, Torshin said that responding to the request for help was part of his work in the Federation Council.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Torshin said that he met Romanov in the early 1990s, when he served as deputy chairman of the Central Bank, as he does now. Romanov also worked at the bank, but in a lower position. According to Torshin, he maintained contact with Romanov, but had not spoken to him since the former general director of the Kristall plant was arrested in Spain. “The last time we talked was on November 27, 2013, when I turned 60. He called to congratulate me on my birthday,” said the deputy chairman of the Central Bank. “I am a public person and I don’t hide anywhere,” Torshin noted.

Sergei Aleksashenko, who served as first deputy chairman of the board of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation from 1995 to 1998 (that is, one of Torshin’s former bosses), believes that Torshin could return to the Bank of Russia to his old position at the direction of the FSB. Since 2013, Aleksashenko has lived in the USA. He is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. The Central Bank told the agency that Torshin was hired to the position of deputy chairman by the Chairman of the Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina, for her political foresight.

Torshin also said in an interview with Bloomberg that he has connections in the United States. In particular, he is a member of the National Rifle Organization. The former senator said he met with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and in May had lunch with the billionaire's son Donald Trump Jr. at the gun lobby's annual convention in Louisville, Kentucky. The office of Trump and the National Rifle Association did not comment on this data.

The press service of the Central Bank stated that Bloomberg’s publication about the mention of Torshin in the materials of the Spanish police has no basis. “Neither the Bank of Russia nor Alexander Torshin were ever officially acquainted with the materials of Spanish law enforcement agencies referred to by Bloomberg. Neither the Spanish prosecutor’s office nor representatives of any other authorities ever contacted Alexander Torshin regarding this investigation,” the statement noted. Bank of Russia (quote from TASS).

Spain has been investigating the activities of the “Russian mafia” since 2008. According to Spanish investigators, the criminal network also includes the highest echelons of Russian government. In May of this year, the National College of Spain issued an arrest warrant for 12 Russians, among whom were people from the close circle of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

It is worth noting that Romanov’s imprisonment did not stop the activities of the “Russian mafia” in Spain. In June, Spanish police detained eight people suspected of laundering money for two organized crime groups from Russia - Taganskaya and Tambov-Malyshevskaya, which is also involved in the investigation. As a result of a police raid in Catalonia, 142 bank accounts were frozen and 191 properties were seized.

Brief biography of Torshin

Alexander Torshin was born on November 27, 1953 in the village of Mitoga, Ust-Bolsheretsk district, Kamchatka region. Graduated from the All-Union Correspondence Institute of Law, Faculty of Psychology, Moscow State University. M. V. Lomonosov. Candidate of Legal Sciences, Associate Professor; worked as a teacher and associate professor at the Academy of Social Sciences under the CPSU Central Committee.

In 1990-1991, he worked as an employee of the department for relations with socio-political organizations of the CPSU Central Committee apparatus, as well as in the apparatus of the President of the USSR. In 1993-1995 he worked in the apparatus of the Council of Ministers - the government of the Russian Federation. After that, he became State Secretary of the Central Bank of Russia.

In 1998-1999, Torshin became the plenipotentiary representative of the Russian government in the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation with the rank of deputy head of the government apparatus. In the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, before being elected deputy chairman, he was a member of the committee on budget, tax policy, financial and customs regulation, and banking. In 2008, Alexander Torshin became the first deputy chairman of the chamber.

In 2006, Torshin found himself at the center of a scandal related to a report investigating the causes and circumstances of the terrorist attack in Beslan. As a result of the analysis of the report, it turned out that some parts of Torshin’s speech were literally rewritten from the investigation materials in criminal case N20/849, initiated by the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation on the terrorist attack in Beslan school, although the parliamentary commission should conduct its own investigation of the terrorist attack, based on its materials and documents, and be independent of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation, its investigation and conclusions. Torshin rejected accusations of plagiarism, assuring that the parliamentary commission did not have access to materials from the Prosecutor General’s Office.

According to which, arrested in Spain and sentenced at the end of May 2016 by a court to four years in prison for illegal transactions, the leader of the Taganskaya organized crime group, Alexander Romanov, is closely connected with Torshin.

Torshin, according to the Spanish police, gave instructions to members of the Tagansk organized crime group to launder through banks and real estate in Spain capital acquired from the criminal activities that the Russian organized crime group was engaged in. According to the findings of Spanish law enforcement agencies, Torshin “stood above” the alleged leader of the organized crime group, Alexander Romanov, in the structure of the organized crime group. Romanov called Torshin “godfather” and “boss” and conducted “operations and investments” on his behalf. In documents from law enforcement agencies in Spain, Torshin is named as the owner of the financial flows of the Tagansk organized crime group, laundered in Spain.

During the search of Romanov, two “very incriminating letters” from Torshin were also discovered. Both letters are related to the raider takeover of the private security company "Afganets" of the Moscow department store in Moscow in 2009. The first letter to Torshin was written by the head of the private security company "Afganets", which, as follows from the case, belongs to the Tagansk organized crime group, where he asks to intervene and protect from " armed people" sent by the previous owner of the shopping center. The second letter is a response from Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Viktor Grin to Torshin, in which the prosecutor reassures and assures the politician that, in accordance with his request to protect the raiders, " necessary measures have been taken". It is noteworthy that the prosecutor’s letter bears the state seal.

As a result of wiretapping, which was conducted several months before Romanov’s arrest, Spanish intelligence services came to the conclusion that he was carrying out financial orders from the deputy chairman of the Central Bank of Russia, Alexander Torshin, and that Torshin himself could be the manager of the capital of the Taganskaya organized crime group. The results of the study of these negotiations also showed Torshin’s participation in Romanov’s semi-legal hotel business. It was established that a share of 80 percent of the real estate (Hotel Mar I Pins in Mallorca), in which Romanov invested 15 million euros of the Tagansky organized crime group, belongs to Torshin.

For such actions committed outside of Spain, according to Antonio Mateon, a law professor at the University of Madrid, he cannot be held accountable by a Spanish court.

Torshin himself does not deny acquaintance with Romanov, but assures that he has “exclusively social” relations with him - he is allegedly just the “godfather” of Romanov’s son.

Spanish police planned to arrest Torshin in 2013 during his arrival in Mallorca for a friendly party. However, he did not arrive. In this regard, the Spanish police assumed that Torshin was warned by the Russian competent authorities.

In turn, an unnamed senior Spanish official explained to Bloomberg that no charges were officially brought against Torshin due to the fact that Russia ignores cooperation in investigations involving high-ranking government officials.

For the first time, the name of a Russian politician in connection with the criminal case of the Taganskaya organized crime group was mentioned in the Spanish press back in 2013 - immediately after the arrest of a Russian by the Spanish police. During the criminal trial in Mallorca about Torshin’s connections with thief in law Romanov and about Torshin’s involvement in the activities of the Taganskaya organized crime group - twice in January 2014

In Russia, no investigation into these allegations was carried out. In 2018, Spanish police handed over recordings of Torshin's wiretaps to the US FBI. In the USA, based on the results of the investigation, Torshin was named a leading figure in the Russian mafia (in the original English: “ he is a leading figure within the Russian mafia»).