A member of the board of PJSC "Inter RAO" Karina Turcan was arrested in Moscow on charges of espionage. The defense appealed against the ruling of the court, insisting on the innocence of Mrs. Tsurkan. According to "Kommersant", she is accused of cooperation with businessmen allegedly connected with foreign intelligence of Romania. In the PAO they say that the member of the board Turcan is on vacation.

According to Kommersant's information, Ms. Turcan was detained by FSB operatives, who for a long time behind the scenes watched her contacts. In PJSC "Inter RAO" she manages the trading block, that is, she oversees the export and import of electricity. Also, according to Kommersant's information, Ms. Turcan is responsible for the business of Inter RAO in Moldova - the Moldovan GRES in Transnistria and the supply of electricity from the Chisinau station. Historically, even under RAO UES, export-import operations were a major part of the state company's business, but with the growth of the holding and the emergence of large generation and energy sales assets in Inter RAO in Russia, international trading has lost some of its significance for the company.

Last Friday, the top manager was taken to the FSB Investigation Department, where she was charged with committing a crime under art. 276 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (espionage). The maximum punishment under this article is up to 20 years of imprisonment. Simultaneously with the detention of Mrs. Tsurkan, she was searched in her office, at home, as well as in the PAO and some high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Energy. One of them is a witness in a criminal case and, according to some information, has already filed an application for dismissal. The official is not suspected in the state treasury, but, meeting with Mrs. Turcan, and being unaware of her connections with the Romanian intelligence service, he could nevertheless inform her of information of interest to the special services.

The Lefortovo District Court arrested Mrs. Tsurkan at the request of the FSB until 13 August.

Protection of the top manager of Inter RAO appealed against the measure of restraint, but the date of consideration of the appeal in the Moscow City Court has not yet been fixed.

Inter RAO UES told Kommersant that Ms. Turcan was officially on vacation, refraining from commenting further.

Ms. Tsurkan is 43 years old. She graduated from the International Independent University of Moldova and the Spanish Consortium of Universities IUP (MBA). He is a Russian citizen. Since 2012, he is a member of the management board of Inter RAO. Prior to that, she headed the geographic division "Moldova, Ukraine, Romania" of the energy company. According to the official website of PJSC, it owns 36,914,877.36 shares of Inter RAO (0.0354% of the company's charter capital).

The Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation does not have information on the progress of the investigation on this issue, since this falls within the competence of law enforcement agencies. The Ministry, within its competence, engages with all energy organizations, including Inter RAO.

In the office of the Deputy Minister of Energy after the arrest of Turcan were searched
RBC, June 19, 2013

The searches were held by Deputy Energy Minister Vyacheslav Kravchenko. Investigative actions may be related to his contacts with the spy member of the board of Inter RAO, Karina Turcan.

On Monday, June 18, in the office of Deputy Minister of Energy Vyacheslav Kravchenko, searches were conducted, the source of RBC, close to the Ministry of Energy, said. Earlier, on Friday, June 15, a member of the board of Inter RAO Karina Turcan was arrested and arrested. She was accused of committing a crime under art. 276 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (espionage).

After the searches, people in masks took away some of the documents, the source said. Kravchenko did not work at this moment, however on June 19 he was present at the Ministry of Energy and signed documents. Another source of RBC confirmed that Kravchenko on June 19 was at work.

Information on searches is also confirmed by three sources of Interfax in the energy sector. The interlocutors of the agency linked them to a case brought against Tsurkan. According to sources, an official can pass on this case a witness.

"Kommersant," citing sources, reported searches from "some high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Energy," one of whom is a witness in the Tsurkan case and filed an application for dismissal. The publication does not name the official's name. According to Kommersant, he is not suspected of being a state official.

"The Ministry of Energy does not have information on the progress of the investigation on this issue, since this falls within the competence of law enforcement agencies. The Ministry of Energy, within its competence, cooperates with all organizations of the fuel and energy complex, including with Inter RAO PJSC, "a representative of the agency told RBC, commenting on the information about the searches.

As Kommersant writes, a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Energy, who carried out searches, according to the version of the investigation, could randomly disclose information of interest to Tsurkan during the meetings, not knowing about her ties with the intelligence. The publication claims that in spite of this the employee of the Ministry has already applied for dismissal.

The source of RBC noted that it has no information about whether Kravchenko wrote a statement on dismissal. Another source of RBC confirmed that Kravchenko on June 19 was at work. Another source, close to the ministry, confirmed that today, June 19, Kravchenko was present at the workplace. The interlocutor noted that Kravchenko had already announced his plans to leave office for six months. Nevertheless, there is no information about whether he wrote a statement of dismissal.

On the arrest of a member of the board of "Inter RAO" Karina Turcan became known on June 19. The decision to arrest the full namesake of Karina Turcan on charges of espionage was made on June 15, Kommersant, citing sources, confirms that it is a member of the board of Inter RAO.

Turcan is charged with collecting and transmitting information constituting state secrets and other legally protected information in the interests of a number of intelligence communities of foreign countries, including Romania, a source familiar with the case materials told RBC. The detention was conducted by the Economic Security Service, not the counter-intelligence unit, the source of RBC, close to law enforcement agencies, specified.

According to the website of the company, since 2012 Karina Turcan is the head of the trading unit of PJSC "Inter RAO". From 2010 to 2011 she was the head of the division "Moldova, Ukraine, Romania". According to Kommersant, Karina Turcan, who was in charge of the company's business in Moldova, was associated with Romanian intelligence. The representative of the Romanian Embassy was unable to comment promptly on RBC on the detention of Turcan.

The information on Karina Turcan, quoted by the Moldovan portal AVA, indicates that she worked at the Center for Commercial Law Reforms under the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). RBC sent a request to the press service of USAID. In USAID, by telephone, they confirmed the receipt of the request.

Turcan had good relations with the chairman of the board of Inter RAO, Boris Kovalchuk, noted by her acquaintance and a person close to the Ministry of Energy. "But that does not mean anything. It is clear that the relationship was normal: people worked together, "one of them said. The representative of Inter RAO does not comment on this.