Head of administration of the former head of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont Josep Lewis Alai hoped to receive funding for the politician’s maintenance from the leader of Russian organized crime, thief in law Zakharia Kalashova, known by the nickname Shakro Molodoy. This is evidenced by a police report available to the Spanish El Debate publications.
Alaya’s messages were intercepted by one of Spain’s police services, the Guardia Civil, in 2020. As stated in the publication, with the help of money from Kalashov, Alai hoped to pay for Puigdemont’s house in Belgium. He was hiding in the country from the Spanish authorities after an unsuccessful attempt to declare the independence of Catalonia in 2017.
According to El Debate, Alai discussed the idea of contacting Kalashov with Puigdemont’s lawyer Gonzalo Boyer and Russian Alexander Dmitrienko. The Spanish Ministry of Justice calls him an agent of one of the Russian intelligence services who has contacts “with some leaders of the criminal world of Russian origin.” Dmitrienko denies both allegations.
The Spanish newspaper El Confidencial previously wrote about a possible connection between Alai and Kalashov. According to her, the official discussed the Russian in correspondence with Boye. It is unclear from the two publications whether we are talking about the same intercepted correspondence or different messages.
70-year-old Zakhary Kalashov has been repeatedly called by media specializing in crime news as the “boss of bosses” of Russian organized crime, or at least a person claiming this role. In 2016, he was detained in Moscow on suspicion of extortion. In 2018 he was sentenced to 9 years and 10 months in prison. The indictment called him “the leader of the Russian criminal world.” Since February 2019, he has been serving his sentence in penal colony No. 2 in the Krasnodar region.
The El Debate material does not say how Alai expected to contact Kalashov in the colony. The politician himself now holds the position of head of Puigdemont’s secretariat – as the former head of Catalonia. The office is financed from public funds. He and Puigdemont deny any ties to Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism).
In 2021 The New York Times wrotethat Puigdemont’s lawyer could have met with the thief in law in Moscow Vasily Khristoforov (Vasya Voskres)whom Kalashov “crowned” in 2021.
