Back to the state duty: in North Ossetia fraudsters traded fake Soviet passports

North Ossetian police stopped the activities of the so-called Supreme Council of the Ossetian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. According to the republic’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, this group of fraudsters sold fake passports of Soviet citizens to local residents, convincing people that this “document” would supposedly free them from taxes and utility bills.

In addition, the attackers promised that the “passport” would allow for additional pension increases and compensation for deposit payments that had been opened before 1991. 

“The chairman and members of the group suggested that the townspeople purchase non-valid temporary ID cards of a citizen of the USSR, for which it was necessary to pay a state duty. They also issued false certificates to the co-owners of the USSR land, ”the North Ossetian Interior Ministry said in a statement.

It is noted that in this way it was possible to deceive about a thousand gullible citizens, and "to spend money illegally obtained for personal needs."

As explained by RT in the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs, a criminal case has been instituted on this fact, provided for in Part 3 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Fraud". The sanction of this article provides imprisonment for up to six years.

The police also published frames of a search of the self-proclaimed "chairman" of the so-called Supreme Council of the Ossetian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic Anatoly Khugaev. In the video, the gray-haired man claims that he is a representative of the legitimate authority and the police must obey him.

During the search in the premises where the “citizen of the USSR” was receiving the population, investigators seized books on the records of individuals who were issued false documents, temporary identification forms, as well as cash. Now the police are looking for victims caught by the self-proclaimed chairman of the Supreme Council.

Witnesses of the USSR

At the same time, a lot of videos have been posted on the Internet, on which men and women of different ages refuse to comply with the requirements of the police and traffic police, citing the fact that they live according to the laws of the USSR and Russian legislation does not apply to them. Many of these people are members of various associations for the revival of the Soviet Union, to which a common name has already become attached - the sect “Witnesses of the USSR”.

The starting point for the appearance of the “Witnesses of the USSR” is January 25, 2010, when the Moscow dentist Sergei Taraskin unexpectedly declared himself president of the USSR during an ordinary court hearing. The man promised to fight for the revival of the Union and live by its laws.

Taraskin has got supporters who conduct seminars and meetings. The dentist himself publishes laws, orders and decrees on social networks. 

In 2018, a split occurred within the “USSR”. Another Supreme Soviet of the USSR appeared, headed by Valentina Reunova, who declared Taraskin a usurper. To communicate with the people, Reunova uses the YouTube channel, where now there are about 50 thousand subscribers.

• © Yuri KADOBNOV / AFP

Extremists and crazy

The leaders of the "USSR" periodically come into the view of law enforcement agencies. 

So, according to media reports, Andrei Zlokazov, who called himself the plenipotentiary of the President of the USSR in Yekaterinburg, was spamming local state institutions. In letters he explained to officials that they did not have legitimate authority.

In addition, Zlokazov sent “Russian Post” orders to military units that are deployed in the Sverdlovsk region. In case of disobedience, he promised to liquidate the commanders as "enemies of the Soviet power."

As a result, a case was brought against him under the article “Public calls for extremist activities.”

In 2018, Zlokazov was detained, in 2019, by a court decision, he was sent for compulsory treatment.

In the summer of 2019, in the Komi Republic, the court recognized the organization “Home in the USSR” as extremist for calls to return the USSR through a military coup. The head of the cell, Alexander Tyurnin, who called himself the head of the KGB Komi, received four years in prison. 

The right to life and to air

Now supporters of the idea of ​​the existence of the “Soviet Union” exist in virtually all regions of the country. Organizations operate under different names, but the main income of the leaders of these cells are fees from gullible citizens for the execution of various kinds of "Soviet" documents.

For two years now, Ekaterina, a resident of Saratov, has been trying to pull her father out of a similar "sect of witnesses of the USSR." 

As a woman told RT, two years ago her father saw a video on the USSR on the network, contacted by the telephone number indicated there and came under the influence of an organization called “Saratov Land”.

“He was offered to meet with the leadership and their heads were duped. They promised to pay a lot of money after he became a citizen of the Soviet Union. But for this he needs to collect a huge number of documents, they require more and more new ones, ”she says.

According to Catherine, community activists recreated a number of Soviet ministries and departments, including even the traffic police, which collect their duties and issue certificates.

The woman claims that her father even had to draw up “The Right to Life” and “The Right to Air”, and the minimum price of one document is one thousand rubles, and, for example, car numbers from “witnesses of the USSR”, which simply indicate the name of the owner, cost 12 600 rubles.

According to Catherine, his father quit his job, refuses to pay taxes, and takes his entire pension to an organization where he is convinced to donate property to the needs of the USSR. Relatives tried to contact law enforcement agencies, but they did not see the corpus delicti there.

“Mom wrote a statement, but there was a refusal. The police considered that forging documents of a non-existent country is not a criminal offense, but the victim must declare fraud, and he denies everything, ”says Ekaterina.

Attorney Oleg Pakhomov notes that there is no legal basis for the actions of the self-proclaimed rulers of the "USSR".

“De jure, such a state cannot exist. The state has mandatory features. This is the territory (and the territory of the Soviet Union is no longer there, it has collapsed into different states), the army and the police, which protect its sovereignty, are uniform laws that apply throughout the state. The “witnesses of the USSR" have none of this. They talk about what they don’t understand. The state is not just some acts on paper, but a phenomenon with a number of specific signs, ”he explained.

According to him, as a rule, legally illiterate people fall into the trap of various “supreme councils”.

“Fraudsters play on the fact that people hope to get help from the state. Non-existent authorities occupied this niche. At the same time, especially for older people, the brand of the USSR means a lot, this state is considered to be fairer, oriented to citizens. Therefore, they decided to use it, just as there are cafes that exploit the Soviet entourage, ”the lawyer said.