The criminal case of Colonel Ovsyannikov is becoming judicial.

      Let us remind you that since March 11 — from the moment of the scandalous detention of the lieutenant colonel, Denis Ovsyannikov, now the former deputy head of the Economic Security Department (formerly UBEP), has been in pre-trial detention for more than four months. And there are no hopes for a relaxation of the preventive measure — "detention" — in sight. Since, having taken Article 51 ("no one is obliged to testify against themselves") back in March, Denis Yuryevich is not cooperating with the investigation and is not giving any confessions: "He sits — he is silent."

      However, as the security forces believed back in March-April, "the Ovsyannikov case may be interesting and intricate," because it was not so simple to return the former deputy head of the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs — Colonel Andrei Voronov — to the Kirov pre-trial detention center. He was transferred earlier this year from IK-11 "strict regime" — a colony for former law enforcement officers, located in the city of Bor, Nizhny Novgorod region. There, the "second police figure," who previously loved "luxurious cars," feasts, and expensive gifts for his young wife (jewelry confiscated worth more than one hundred million rubles), was serving a sentence under a verdict handed down to him — seven years of "strict regime" (plus a fine of 38 million rubles and deprivation of state awards).

      And, if we assume that the ex-colonel was brought to Kirov before the security forces "clapped" the lieutenant colonel, then it can be assumed that the authorities had been "developing" Ovsyannikov for quite some time. And, according to a source, if someone found Voronov's sentence — seven years of imprisonment — excessively harsh, then Denis Yuryevich "could be facing much more." Firstly, because the article "receiving a bribe in especially large amounts" (Article 290 part 6 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) implies a punishment of up to 15 years (and a fine of up to 70 times the amount of the bribe). Secondly, it is difficult for Themis to be lenient-tolerant towards someone who does not admit guilt and does not repent of their actions.

      Where the legs grow from, so the hands can rake

      Let us remind you that according to the initial version, Lieutenant Colonel Ovsyannikov could have been caught on bribes from timber harvesters, as since August 2018 he had gained official status as a member of the working group for the implementation of the "Project for the creation of an automated system for video monitoring and control of timber transportation in the Kirov region."

      There was probably a reason why Denis Yuryevich was considered a "worthy successor" to Vice-Governor Andrei Plitko, who was sentenced in August 2022 to 11 years of "strict regime" and a fine of 25 million rubles for 18 proven episodes of receiving bribes totaling more than 23 million rubles.

      And the difference between the teacher and the follower is only that Plitko, initially as deputy chairman and then as vice-governor, "supervised" the forestry sector for a year and a half — from the fall of 2018 to March 2020. And Ovsyannikov "took care of forest corruption at its roots" for the next six years. Probably, being aware of how to act and with whom to coordinate, so that the higher management — including the security forces — would not notice the specifics of his "total control."