(Nodar Asoyan)

Two weeks before the start of the large-scale military invasion of the Russian army into the territory of Ukraine, the Odessa District Administrative Court issued a landmark decision obliging the State Migration Service of Ukraine to make a decision on recognizing 49-year-old Georgian native and citizen of the Russian Federation, Nodar Asoyan, who is known as a thief in law under the nickname "Nodar Rustavsky," as a refugee. The corresponding decision was made on February 11, 2022, by the servant of Themis, Svitlana Koroi.

According to the decision, the judge partially granted the petitioner's motion, whose name was included in thelist of sanctioned criminal elements of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine under №41 in the spring of 2021. The judge also obliged the migration authorities to recognize and cancel the unlawful verdict №258-21 of July 30, 2021, which refused to recognize "Nodar Rustavsky" as a person in need of additional protection.

During the consideration of Asoyan's case in the first instance, the court "established the presence of four main reasons for granting the plaintiff refugee status." It is about "his presence outside the country of his citizenship, the impossibility to receive protection from the country of origin, his well-founded fear of becoming a victim of persecution and the fear of becoming a victim of persecution based on reasons indicated in the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees."

It should be noted that domestic authorities strongly disagreed with this verdict and managed to cancel Judge Koroi's controversial decision in the appellate instance. On June 15, 2022, the collegium of judges of the Fifth Administrative Court of Appeals adopted a relevant decision that completely rejected the "migration claims" of a respected representative of the elite of the criminal world.

The released materials of the court proceedings allow Detective-Info to confirm the continuation of the "volunteer saga" of Interpol's wanted person, Nodar Asoyan, in Ukraine, as reported by law enforcement officials of the Russian Federation. Also shed light on new-old perturbations in the fate of this criminal general, who during 2019-2021 was considered one of the most influential "thieves in law" on the territory of our country.

Beginning of Fairmont star's "volunteering"

To begin with, let us remind readers that in the spring of 2020, Deteсtive-Info published exclusive details of the story of "Nodar Rustavsky."

Then in the investigation, the publication "Volunteer in Law" presented an incredible story of transformations of the Russian "crime boss" Asoyan. After the events of Euromaidan, he underwent a thorny path from a travel ban, accusations of theft and an Interpol warrant to becoming a "political refugee" on Ukrainian territory within five minutes of obtaining such status.

The key to starting the procedures for legalizing the criminal general was the decision of the Poltava District Administrative Court in his favor, which canceled the migration service's order to refuse him documents to resolve the issue of recognizing Asoyan as a refugee or a person in need of additional protection.

According to court documents, the Interpol-wanted since 2006 "Nodar Rustavsky" applied in early December 2019 with a relevant request. Surprisingly, this happened shortly after the so-called "Moldavanka at Bakinsky's wedding" - scandalous events with the clarification of the relationship and the subsequent fight of representatives of the elites of the criminal world.

In the relevant conflict, as already reported on the pages of our publication, in addition to Asoyan, his colleagues in the trade, Sergey Glonty, nicknamed "Guga," Sergey Oliynyk ("Umka") and David Ozmanov ("Dato Krasnodarsky"), directly or indirectly participated. Together, this quartet "sunk their teeth" into Andriy Nedzelsky ("Nedelya"/"Lvivsky") in room №1016 of the Kyiv hotel Fairmont.

The incident gained wide public resonance and (despite polar assessments of its outcome) became a real turning point, which colorfully confirming the existence of systemic discrepancies within the formally unified "thieves family." And in parallel - it noted the rise of new bright stars on the Ukrainian criminal horizon, like the aforementioned "Nodar Rustavsky."

"The Poltava Tour" of Rustav Theatre

Considering the rapid growth of Nodar Zhorzhikovich’s informal influence in Ukraine, resolving the issue of legalizing his stay in our country became one of the few things that troubled the dignitary. Especially against the backdrop of Detective-Info film crews repeatedly capturing Asoyan's elite convoys in Kiev, despite the "red notice" regarding him in Interpol's database.

However, the first legal attempt that lawyers of "Nodar Rustavsky" tried to make in Poltava region turned out to be unsuccessful. At the end of December 2019, local migration authorities refused to process the documents for recognizing the "thief-in-law" as a refugee or a person in need of additional protection.

Challenging this decision in court by Asoyan's side led to the publication of details of the dignitary's biography, which have nothing to do with the established traditions of elite representatives of the criminal world. This was due to the argumentation of the "Nodar Rustavsky" side, according to which he supposedly "left the Russian Federation due to persecution by the authorities for his active pro-Ukrainian stance and significant assistance to the volunteer movement of Ukraine".

To confirm the volunteer successes of the dignitary, his lawyers provided the court with acknowledgments issued to Asoyan by public organizations and the head of the Tsukurin village council, as well as positive characteristics provided by the "All-Ukrainian Alliance of Fighters and Volunteers of the ATO" and the NGO "Defense and Reconstruction of the Country" (ZiRka), one of the founders of which was one of the frontmen of the "Azov movement" Serhiy Korotkykh ("Botsman"/"Malyuta"). In addition, the virtues of the "volunteer in law" were confirmed by two witnesses - Tymur Siminovsky and Anastasiia Kiparenko - to the servants of Themis.

This couple, in particular, asserted that since the beginning of the military conflict in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, "Nodar Rustavsky" has been "actively involved in the anti-terrorist operation as a volunteer and was one of the leaders of concerned citizens of the Russian Federation who lived in the Rostov region and supported Ukrainian soldiers. Since the creation of the civil organization "Defense and Reconstruction of the Country," he has been an active member, engaged in agitation work, collecting humanitarian aid for the East of Ukraine, and doing everything possible to help the Ukrainian army."

Based on these arguments, the Poltava district administrative court found them compelling and could have obliged the region's migrants to reconsider Asoyan's application for asylum. As a result, in early August 2020, the "thief in law" celebrated an intermediate victory. Order №118 of the Poltava Regional Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs approved the decision to begin the process of preparing the necessary documents for Nodar Zhorzhikovich to resolve his issue, which resulted in the criminal general receiving indulgence from persecution by Russian law enforcement.

Volunteer brotherhood "Selmash"

According to court materials, soon after, the migrants conducted an additional interview with Asoyan. However, even after this, the result of his application for refugee status was not satisfactory for the criminal general.

On September 30, 2020, a conclusion was drawn regarding the refusal to recognize "Nodar Rustavsky" as a person in need of additional protection. And at the end of June 2021 (a month after the inclusion of the "thief in law" in the sanctions list and an attempt to "clean up" information about him on Russian resources), the first deputy chief of the State Migration Service of Ukraine in the Poltava region drew up an appendix to this negative conclusion of a similar nature.

After this, the central apparatus of the State Migration Service of Ukraine came to the forefront, the decision of which №258-21 of July 30, 2021, seemed to finally put an end to the refugee tribulations of the "volunteer in law". However, the mere presence of several typical decisions summoned by various authorities ultimately "gave" Asoyan a chance to challenge the refusal to grant him asylum on the territory of Ukraine.

Citing the arguments of Nodar Zhorzhikovich's lawyers, the Odessa District Administrative Court restored his deadlines for filing a claim. However, in December of last year, the case slowly moved to written proceedings.

It was focused on attempts to verify the accuracy of the information obtained from "Nodar Rustavsky" in his attempts to get asylum. From this information, it emerged that Asoyan, a native of Tbilisi, moved to Russia in the late 90s and subsequently (according to his words) engaged in private business in Salsk and Rostov.

The official part of his biography does not disclose the specific field in which Nodar Zhorzhikovich applied his creative abilities. However, it contains a reference to the fact that immediately after the start of the military conflict in Donbas in 2014, he allegedly "engaged in volunteer activities in the interests of Ukraine" in the Russian Federation. Specifically, he organized a collection of aid through the Georgian community in the Rostov region with his brother for Ukrainians affected by the conflict in the eastern part of our country.

Mentioning a close relative Asoyan is clearly not a sentimental outburst or a random expression of feelings. Especially considering the actions of law enforcement agencies in Russia in October 2019. At that time, the FSB released information about the arrest of three participants in the "Selmashevskoye OZU" - Aziz Badalov, Georgiy Ivanov ("Zhora Assiriets") and Valery Sturki, who is the brother of "Nodar Rustavsky".

(Valery Sturki and Georgiy Ivanov)

Since then, these men have been in custody and are accused of a number of criminal episodes such as extortion, racketeering, etc. But that's not all: Russian law enforcement authorities have declared Andriy Imanali ("Poluzvir"), a criminal authority, as the leader of the "Selmashevskoye OZU" and the spiritual father of the group is none other than the thief in law "Nodar Rustavsky". The puzzle finally comes together if we recall that Asoyan was detained in Kyiv in early 2019 in the company of "Poluzvir".

The thief-in-law was caught with fake passports and confusion over his "volunteering"

In turn, Asoyan's side insisted that all accusations from Russian law enforcement against him (including Interpol's search) were falsified and were a result of his "volunteering for the benefit of Ukrainian citizens affected by the conflict in eastern Ukraine."

However, the "Nodar Rustavsky" side failed to provide any documentary evidence of this claim. During an interview with the State Migration Service of Ukraine, the dignitary tried to persuade officials that the items, food products, and medicines collected in Russia were delivered to Ukraine in small portions through drivers of minibusses and buses in Sloboda region. And that all arrangements for the delivery of aid were made exclusively through social networks. However, this information was deleted "for security reasons."

In the absence of receipts, signatures, and other evidence that could confirm the "volunteer victories" of Nodar Zhorzhikovich, migration officials concluded that all information about his volunteering activities was only mentioned by him verbally.

Further investigation into Asoyan's personal affairs provided grounds for domestic officials to openly declare that "he is confused about some details of his life history, which may indicate insincerity or a fabricated story to justify his application for asylum in Ukraine." In particular, in the questionnaire, "Nodar Rustavsky" stated that he was a member of the all-Ukrainian public center "Volunteer," but during the clarification of this issue in the interview, he refuted this fact.

"I just communicated with various volunteer organizations for work, and by Ukrainian volunteers, I meant all volunteer organizations that exist in Ukraine," his comments in the court registry state.

In addition, there was no confirmation of the information about Nodar Asoyan's alleged presence at the Volunteer Congress in Kyiv. The dignitary claimed that the relevant event took place in the spring of 2017, while according to the ICRC, such a forum was held in the fall of 2018...

However it may be, but it can be stated that in 2020 Asoyan did indeed get involved in the work of non-governmental organizations of the "third sector". During the reconsideration of his asylum case, he provided the State Migration Service with information about the registration of the charitable foundation "Children Above All" on the territory of Ukraine. The beneficiary of the corresponding legal entity is still marked as "Nodar Rustavsky", and the authorized person is former employee of the Prosecutor's Office of Donetsk Oblast, Oleh Koinash.

By the way, Koinash is listed as a co-founder of several NGOs, including the sports club "Hedeon Donbas" in the city of Shakhtarsk, Donetsk Oblast. Partners of Oleh Hryhorovych in this structure included such well-known figures in Donetsk and Kharkiv regions as Volodymyr Manukyan and his "right-hand man" Oleksandr Mavrin, nicknamed "Mantus".

(Oleh Koinash, Volodymyr Manukyan and Oleksandr Mavrin)

At the beginning of February of this year, Koinash, now working as an advocate for Nodar Rustavsky, commented to "Hromadske" about his client's volunteer work. Recalling his client's troubled history, the lawyer sighed, "It sincerely bothers me to witness the lawlessness taking place in our country, the persecution of people who, during the most difficult period in the history of independent Ukraine, saved those who found themselves without a roof over their heads, without means of survival".

It should be noted that at that time, Asoyan was mentioned in the public eye due to the discovery of several Ukrainian passports issued in the names of third parties found in the possession of the "criminal general." Further investigation of this issue by journalists from Detective-Info allowed for the discovery that there were at least five, possibly forged, documents bearing the Tryzub emblem.

Materials from the judicial registry confirm this egregious fact. According to extracts from the initiative letter from the SSU in the Poltava region, the "firm" is known to have been involved in at least four instances of illegally obtaining Ukrainian passports for a "thief in law." It was also discovered about the establishment regarding "Nodar Rustavskyi" "green" (at the initiative of law enforcement agencies in Ukraine and Georgia) and "red" (at the request of Russian law enforcement) notices had been issued with regards to Nodar Rustavsky in the Interpol databases.

Furthermore, Asoyan is described as a person who "negatively influences the criminal situation in the state, controls the activities of ethnic criminal groups, has a wide network of connections in the criminal environment of Ukraine, Georgia and the Russian Federation, posing a threat to national security and public order in Ukraine."

Considering these facts collectively, "migrants" concluded that there were no grounds for granting asylum to Nodar Asoyan.

"Odessa mansions"

However, the "Nodar Rustavsky" side did not agree with this decision, initiating a legal dispute in the Odessa District Administrative Court. In early February 2022, they came to the conclusion that the claims made by Asoyan's lawyers about the existence of well-founded fears that he may be subjected to torture after extradition to the Russian Federation or that his life may be in danger, "are not obviously unfounded."

To the credit of the authorities, they did not leave this issue unresolved and succeeded in overturning the verdict that obligated the "thief in law" to recognize himself as a refugee.

The appellate court ruled that Judge Koroi had made a mistake in concluding that the claims of the criminal general were satisfied, and "therefore considers it necessary to cancel the decision of the first instance court and issue a new ruling on the refusal to satisfy the claim." Another attempt by "Nodar Rustavsky" to obtain indulgence from criminal prosecution and to legalize himself on Ukrainian territory ended in failure.