New appeal for information on Kremlin critic’s death Nikolay Glushkov
Counter-terror police have renewed an appeal for information into the mysterious death of a Russian dissident, hours before the inquest into his death is due to resume in London.
Commander Richard Smith, head of the Metropolitan Police’s
counter-terrorism command, said questions remain about the death of 68-year-old
Russian businessman Nikolay Glushkov in New Malden south-west London, three
years ago.
Police launched a murder investigation after the
father-of-two and Kremlin critic was found apparently strangled at his home on
March 12 2018, a week after the Novichok poisoning of the former Russian double
agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury.
Mr Smith said he was particularly keen to hear from
residents near Clarence Avenue, where Mr Glushkov lived for two years before
his death, following sightings of a black van in the area at the time.
He said: “This has been a hugely complex, challenging
investigation from the outset.
“Officers have taken hundreds of statements and collected a
large amount of evidential material, but so far no arrests have been made.
“Three years have passed and we are again asking the public,
particularly people who live in or visit the New Malden area, to cast their
minds back to March 12 2018.
“Did you see a black Volkswagen van in or around Clarence
Avenue that day?
“Did you see anything that in retrospect was unusual or
suspicious?
“Anything you can recall might be crucial to our
investigation.”
Mr Glushkov fled Russia after being accused of fraud during
his time as deputy director of the Russian airline Aeroflot.
In 2017, during a trial in absentia, he was sentenced to
eight years in a Russian prison, convicted of stealing £87 million from the
airline.
He was due to attend the commercial court in London to
defend himself on March 12, the day his body was discovered.
Mr Glushkov was also a close friend of oligarch Boris
Berezovsky, a critic of Russian president Vladimir Putin, who was found hanged
at his Berkshire home in 2013.
An inquest into his death recorded an open verdict.
Mr Glushkov’s body was discovered by his daughter, Natalia
Glushkova.
She told the PA news agency in 2019: “I still live with the
same pictures and it’s hard.
“It’s hard to remember … what you’ve seen on that day,
rather than him smiling.
“It’s something you can never imagine. It’s something you
see in the movies.
“And you can never believe it is something that can actually
be, not filmed, but rather happen in life.
“We all, I guess, think that it will never happen to us, and
when it does it hurts a lot.
“I don’t think it’s even possible to describe all the
feelings and emotions that go through your system when something like this
happens.”
The inquest into Mr Glushkov’s death is due to resume on
Friday at West London Coroner’s Court.
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