The case surfaced in the framework of a very large-scale corruption and espionage scandal that has been unfolding in Uruguay in the recent months. It has emerged that <\/span>Alejandro Astesiano*<\/b>, the now former head of the security service of President <\/span>Louis Lacalle Lowe<\/b> is being investigated for leading an organized crime group (OCG) that engages in the forgery of Uruguay citizenship documents in exchange for rewards from foreign nationals. Among those involved is the former consul of Uruguay in Moscow, a number of diplomats, officials, and mediators with Russian citizenships.<\/span><\/p>\n The prosecutor’s office in Uruguay is currently conducting investigations, interrogations and arrests in the infamous Astesiano scandal, as<\/span><\/p>\n there are also suspicions of the group’s involvement in industrial espionage for the benefit of undisclosed third parties.<\/i><\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n However, the media is targeting Moscow as well, since many of the intermediaries in the scheme, as well as their “clients” who received the right to permanent residence and passports of the country, are also citizens of the Russian Federation, according to publications in the local media, incl. newspaper <\/span>El Observador<\/b><\/a> .<\/span><\/p>\n As “Bivol” wrote in 2018, the Russian citizen <\/span>Andrey Valerievich Kashtanov<\/b> is among the persons who received the citizenship of the Republic of Bulgaria against investment intentions. He also received a passport in 2008 because he declared his intention to participate in the implementation of projects with joint financing in the construction of “Danube Bridge 2”. The serious weight of these intentions was conveyed by the prior Minister of Economy, Petar Mutafchiev.<\/span><\/p>\n If Kashtanov was really involved in the complexity of this European infrastructure project, it became very secretive. Records show that he does not, and has never had a company registered in Bulgaria. There is no evidence that he invested funds in the company with the official name “New Europe,” representing a road and railway bridge over the Danube river, connecting the Bulgarian city of Vidin and the Romanian Calafat. With its construction, Bulgaria’s transport network essentially opens up to other various European transport networks.<\/span><\/p>\n From the Vice President’s Administration Report on the Naturalization of Foreign Citizens (Archive: Bivol)<\/p><\/div>\n Andrey Kashtanov, however, had other, more realistic intentions besides building Danube Bridge 2.<\/i><\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n After receiving a passport, he invested in his own home. In 2014, Andrey Valerievich paid $111,994 for an apartment of 106 square meters located on the fifth floor of a cooperative on the central Sofia street “Solunska”. Bivol’s team then visited the address, but managed to find Kashtanov, along with the name of the discrete investor missing from the doorbell.<\/span><\/p>\n In 2008, when he became a Bulgarian citizen, Kashtanov was a senior police chief in the structures of the Ministry of the Interior of the Russian Federation. Yet, the Passport Service of the Ministry of the Interior, DANS, etc. services did not allow him to the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria at all.<\/span><\/p>\n Thus, on December 4, 2009, Kashtanov, already a Bulgarian citizen, was appointed deputy head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Nizhny Novgorod region with the “Personnel” department. This was reported by the press service of the Central Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, as can be seen from publications of the press release in the local media in Nizhny Novgorod.<\/span><\/p>\n The 2009 press release for the new deputy head of the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Ministry of Internal Affairs (Source: niann.ru)<\/p><\/div>\n Andrey Valerievich Kashtanov<\/b> was born on December 10, 1966 in Odintsovo, Moscow region. In 1988, he graduated from the Air Force Academy “Marshal of the Soviet Union K.S. Moskalenko” (Poltava, Ukrainian USSR), in 2003 – from the Moscow State Technological Academy, becoming fluent in English.<\/span><\/p>\n Since 1997 he has worked mainly in the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. He began his long career in the militia as an investigator for the Department for Combating Economic Crimes, in the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at Sheremetyevo International Airport, and at the Moscow Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Air and Water Transport. In 2001, he became deputy head of the Department for Combating Economic Crimes of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at Sheremetyevo Airport.<\/span><\/p>\n Andrey Kashtanov is registered as the head of one of the security structures of the Ministry of Interior of the Russian Federation in the city of Ramenskoe, Moscow Region (source: audit-it.ru)<\/p><\/div>\n According to data in2002, Kashtanov was also the head of the “Ramenskoe 2” Extra-Departmental Security Department at the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs – Ramenskoe, Moscow Region. In January 2003, Kashtanov was appointed deputy head of the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and head of the Public Security Militia at Sheremetyevo Airport.<\/span><\/p>\n Since September 2003, he has been the head of the department for new equipment in the Main Directorate for Private Security of the Ministry of the Interior. And in 2007, he headed the Department of Private Security at the Main Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Moscow region. Since September 2007, police colonel Kashtanov has been the vice-rector of the Moscow University of the Ministry of the Interior of the Russian Federation.<\/span><\/p>\n At least three of Kashtanov’s positions in the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs are confirmed by a check of Russian media and registers such as the Ukrainian <\/span>RuAssets<\/b><\/a> , conducted by Bivol. After that, however, the traces of the high-ranking officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation were lost, but in 2018 “Bivole” established that he was<\/span><\/p>\n a Russian citizen with a Bulgarian “golden” passport against investments.<\/i><\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n In February 2023, Kashtanov was suddenly highlighted on the other side of the world – in Latin America – the Uruguayan publication published a series of articles about Kashtanov, one of which was dedicated to the Bulgarian connection revealed by “Bivol” for the issuance of his passport Bulgaria in 2008 with the patronage of the prior Minister of Transport, Information Technologies and Communications <\/span>Petar Mutafchiev, who was from the BSP quota in the “Stanishev” cabinet.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n It turns out that, according to <\/span>Cr\u00f3nicas del Este,<\/b> Andrei Kashtanov and Olesya Jumelia entered Uruguay in June 2021 under an exception granted to them by the highest level. The media cites Uruguayan journalist Antonio Ladra, who managed to publish the Presidential resolution authorizing the entry into Uruguay of 43 people, including Olesya Jumelia and Andrey Kashtanov.<\/span><\/p>\n According to the publication, both of them have Russian citizenship and are linked to the Astesiano case:<\/span><\/p>\n “The person who allowed such an exception was not just anyone, but the president’s secretary Alvaro Delgado.”<\/i><\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n However, it is not clear whether Kashtanov is entering with his Russian or Bulgarian passport, as EU and Bulgarian citizens <\/span>do not need<\/b><\/a> a visa in Uruguay. He does not need a visa with <\/span>the Russian passport<\/b><\/a>, but with the limit of 90 days of stay, he must also present to the border guards his return ticket and a bank statement for his maintenance during his stay in the country.<\/span><\/p>\n “What has remained unnoticed by our country: Andrey Kashtanov is not just any Russian, but a high-ranking official of the Russian state intelligence,” writes <\/span>Cr\u00f3nicas del Este<\/b>, while it is not clear whether colleagues in Uruguay equate Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs with special services such as the FSB, SVR and GRU. The publication also <\/span>cites<\/b><\/a> the “Bivol” investigation into the case, while also connecting Kashtanov with the “Russian mafia”.<\/span><\/p>\n The media suspected him of working for Russian intelligence, as he was considered a personal friend of the Uruguayan president’s former head of security, <\/span>Alejandro Astesiano<\/b> .<\/span><\/p>\n The media called him a “humble accomplice” of Astesiano, who is suspected of leading an organized crime group to grant Uruguayan citizenship<\/i><\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n of foreign citizens, who mostly consist of Russians, who in addition do not have the right to document forgery such as birth certificates.<\/span><\/p>\n Andrey Kashtanov’s Uruguayan identity card published by Cr\u00f3nicas del Este (Screenshot: Bivol)<\/p><\/div>\n The media believes “this important information about Astesiano’s friend”, who entered the country with the special permission of the Secretary of the Presidency, <\/span>Alvaro Delgado<\/b> , is “necessary thorough investigation”. The journalists demand that the prosecutor in the Astesiano case, <\/span>Gabriel Fossati,<\/b> question the high-ranking government officials on what grounds they allowed Andrey Kashtanov into Uruguay, as well as whether they are aware that he was a top police officer in the past:<\/span><\/p>\n “We don’t know if he’s still a high-ranking Russian intelligence official .”\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The media wants immediate explanations from <\/span>Alvaro Garce<\/b>, who is the director of the State Secretariat for Strategic Intelligence: “How is it possible that the Uruguayan intelligence did not know about this character who entered our country through Chuy? What kind of country are we?”.<\/span><\/p>\n Alcalde del Chuy, Eduardo Calabuig, reconoci\u00f3 a @MVDNoticias<\/a> que cas\u00f3 a Kashtanov y Dzhumelia en el Macro por pedido de ellos mismos. Uno de sus propietarios es Rafael Cardozo, primo de su esposa. Los rusos prometieron inversiones. Domicilio en edicto es de madre de Cardozo. pic.twitter.com\/bd1kzibs0o<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/ElObservador.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe Uruguayan newspaper El Observador on the Astesiano case with the president's former security chief Luis Lacalle <\/i><\/strong><\/pre>\n
Passport against bare investment intentions\u00a0<\/b><\/h1>\n
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\n<\/i><\/strong>The project has a key importance for the entire south-eastern transport axis of Europe and the trans-European transport network, which is why it was financed as a priority and entirely from the public structural funds of the EU and built by a Spanish company.<\/span><\/p>\nKashtanov is a high-ranking police chief when he becomes “Bulgarian”<\/b><\/h1>\n
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<\/a> <\/a>\r\n\r\nSource: The database of Russian individuals and legal entities RuAssets\u00a0<\/i><\/b>\r\ncreated by YouControl (Kyiv, Ukraine)<\/i><\/b><\/pre>\n“Investor” with patronage from the presidency in Uruguay\u00a0<\/b><\/h1>\n
<\/a>Citizens of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Russian Federation do not need \r\nvisas for Uruguay <\/i><\/b>(Sources: MFA, immigrantinvest.com, screenshots: \"Bivol\")<\/i><\/b><\/pre>\n<\/a>\n