At the hearing in the case of Dmitry Sednev, the rector of Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU), the testimony of his FSB handler, Colonel Rustam Kamalov, was read. Kamalov ordered the vice-rector to fictitiously employ his mistress, and now Sednev is being tried for it. What's interesting in this story isn't so much the fact that the FSB supervises university administrators, but rather Kamalov's testimony, which stated that his intimate relationship with his mistress was purely for official purposes and received no pleasure from it.

 

VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info have previously reported on Rustam Kamalov. He was the head of the FSB assistance program group for the Tomsk Region, and later the head of the agency's counterterrorism unit. Kamalov had the powerful support of one of the FSB's Central Intelligence Agency (CA) towers, making him a highly visible figure in the Tomsk Region's security apparatus. Then he found himself in the epicenter of a battle between these very same "towers" and lost. Kamalov was detained while attempting to leave Russia and sent to pretrial detention. His relationship with TPU management was brought to light. The colonel once gave the go-ahead for Rector Sednev to employ his mistress, Natalya. The investigation concluded that Kamalov himself received the money and classified it as a bribe from the vice-rector for "general patronage." Sednev was a witness in Kamalov's case (he ultimately received 11 years in prison). Then the vice-rector himself found himself in court, charged under Article 285 of the Russian Criminal Code (abuse of office). This was how Natalya's fictitious employment was assessed.

 

At the hearing, among other things, correspondence between Kamalov and Sednev was presented. It makes it clear that the FSB colonel was Sednev's full-fledged handler. Even before Sednev's appointment, he wrote that Sednev would only be able to assume the rector's post with a recommendation and approval from the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). He then explained that "the regional government doesn't assign tasks to rectors; they have to do it for them." And the FSB colonel constantly assigns such tasks. Including Natalia's employment. Refusing was impossible, but who cares now?

 

But, of course, the main "hit" of the hearings was Kamalov's own testimony about his relationship with Natalia. We can't resist quoting excerpts from them:

 

"I met N....during an investigation at the organization where she worked at the time, and I immediately thought she was a promising young lawyer...

 

After some time, N. and I became intimate... I didn't need this relationship out of any physiological needs... I believed, in the long run, that I could ask N. to fulfill any of my requests in the interests of the service...

 

Our intimate relationship was not connected to any physical attraction I felt toward N.... My interest in her was solely tied to the interests of my service..."

 

As for Kamalov, after his sentence, he asked to go to war, but he was denied, and he is now serving his sentence in a penal colony in the Irkutsk region.