Former head of the Murmansk regional department of Parnas Andrey Kapitonov confirmed the authenticity of a post about work for the regional office of the Federal Security Service (FSB) published in his blog. He informed correspondent of «7x7» about it. According to him, after the publication he neither got reaction from the leadership of a party nor from the special services.
'I did publish this post. Journalists call and ask to comment. Security services did nothing against me yet. They keep silence at the moment,' Kapitonov said.
He also said that directed proposal to the Chairman of Parnas Mikhail Kasyanov and his deputy Konstantin Merzlikin to discuss the situation and to organize a press conference, but no reply received.
'The situation is still quite outrageous, but so far they have remained silent and there were no comments from them, I do not know the reason. Actually, it was assumed that "Novaya Gazeta" would publish my article. I gave an interview to journalists of the newspaper on January 17, it wasn't published; however, in the beginning of February my people from the headquarters of Khodorkovsky said that they were aware of the story,' Former head of the Murmansk Parnas told. 'Unfortunately, there was a leak from "Novaya Gazeta", and it influenced on me and my friends badly. Therefore it was necessary to post it on «7x7» blog without waiting for the publication of "Novaya Gazeta".
Also, he said that confession of working for the FSB did not effect relations with colleagues: Kapitonov informed all heads of regional branches of the party and most of them supported him. Before publishing the information, Kapitonov wrote a statement of withdrawal from the party.
'I left Parnas just in case this issue would lead to a split, they have rough times anyway. In connection with silence of the federal management of Parnas, many members of the regional offices think about withdrawal. Such uncertainty is very bad for people,' the activist said.
But Kapitonov refused to disclose the details of cooperation between him and the FSB, as well as whether he was aware of any documents about the "development" of Parnas by intelligence agency, citing the subscription nondisclosure. In his opinion, terrorists and extremists can take advantage of such information.
'In the process of cooperation with the FSB, I got an idea of the operational working methods of security services, disclosure of which could have negative consequences. For example, terrorists could use knowledge of the FSB working methods to their advantage, which would be unacceptable. Publication of this information may also effect the FSB operative workers I have worked with and whom I consider to be professional and decent people,' Kapitonov said. 'My goal is not to weaken the FSB of Russia, on the contrary – make it a powerful intelligence service capable to effectively counter terrorists, extremists, as well as to fight against corruption. For this, the FSC should be returned to the legal field – to be free from conducting illegal operations. That is why, among other things, I made my story public.'
On February 18, head of the Murmansk branch of Parnas Andrey Kapitonov published information on his cooperation with the Regional Directorate of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and on the financing of his election campaign. Kapitonov himself was unavailable for comments.
Deputy chairman of the party Konstantin Merzlikin confirmed «7x7» that he received a letter from Kapitonov with a story about working for special service.
Viktor Ivanov, «7x7»