The FSB led the operative development of Karina Turcan, accused of spying for at least three years, told RBC a source close to the government and an interlocutor in a large energy company. According to one of them, the FSB listened to the telephone conversations of Tsurkan for three years, then to the board member of the Russian energy company Inter RAO. The second source said that three to four years ago the FSB had "information that Turcan has a very difficult article." One of the interlocutors of RBC notes that the main evidence of the FSB was obtained during the wiretapping.

Previously, RBC sources claimed that the FSB had been developing Turcan for more than a year, and the "active stage" of the operation was in April-May 2018.

The representative of Inter RAO refused to comment, the FSB press service did not respond to RBC's request.

The surveillance for several years - a common thing, if it is a question of espionage, says an interlocutor of RBC in the FSB. If, in the end, it was decided to arrest Turcan, then there was no sense in further monitoring, he concludes.

New lawyer

The top manager of Inter RAO Turcan was arrested on June 15 on suspicion of spying for Romania, on June 28 the Moscow City Court, on the basis of the appeal's appeal, left her in custody until August 13. The accused has two passports - Russian and Romanian. The case of Tsurkan is being investigated by investigator of the FSB investigative department Dmitry Krekov, two sources familiar with the course of the investigation told RBC. On the eve of another defender Tsurkan, who does not admit his guilt, became a lawyer specializing in state treason Ivan Pavlov.

Sources RBC indicate that Turcan also reported on the supply of electricity to the Crimea and the unrecognized republics of Donbass. "From the SVR came the information that someone is pouring information to a member of NATO of Romania, for which the US can stand. It was political information about who is working with us in Ukraine, in the People's Republic of China, in the Crimea and other regions where we supply electricity: who is cooperating, who refuses, with whom we talk at all, what problems are there, what schemes, " one of the interlocutors of RBC.

Russia joined the Crimea in April 2014, and at the same time, Inter RAO established a subsidiary, the Settlement Settlement Center (ZOR), which was engaged in settlements for Ukrainian electricity for the peninsula, then 90% dependent on energy supplies from Ukraine.

Male character

Karina Turcan worked in the state-controlled company Inter RAO since 2005 and oversaw the direction of energy trading. Turcan led the geographical division "Moldova, Ukraine, Romania" first, then the geographical division "Europe", and in 2012 she headed the entire block of trading and became the first woman on the board of "Inter RAO" in the history of the company.

RBC's interlocutor from Tsurkan's circle describes her as "a tough and calculating woman who quickly moved up the career ladder." "Karina is a pragmatist, she has a masculine character," another friend of hers confirms. "It's usually difficult to communicate with women leaders: they are emotional, they can get up on the wrong foot, they never had such a thing with Karina, all issues were resolved clearly and in the case." It is tough, but it was easy to work with it, says one more source with Turcan.

Turcan was appreciated in Inter RAO: from the moment of its entry into the board, the board of directors coordinated Turcan four special prizes. In 2013, it received two awards for the organization of electricity supplies from the Moldovan GRES and for the implementation of a "particularly important task" (this wording is often found in the names of premiums of members of the management board of Inter RAO), in 2015 - for "significant contribution" to the development of the company .

Turcan, on Mondays, participated in operational meetings at the Ministry of Energy, led by Deputy Energy Minister Vyacheslav Kravchenko, two of her acquaintances tell. One specifies that she shared these duties with another member of the board - Ilnar Mirsiyapov, less often they were attended by other members of the board. Tsurkan was always laconic and behaved very discreetly, one of the participants of the meetings in the ministry tells about the former top manager.

In 2015, when Igor Sechin, the head of the board of directors of Inter RAO, and Boris Kovalchuk, the general director of the company, offered to President Vladimir Putin to transfer control to Rosneftegaz, a troubled subsidiary of Rossetei, Lenenergo, the network company was also directed by Turcan. She was trusted by the head of Inter RAO Boris Kovalchuk, her acquaintance tells. But another friend Tsurkan says that Kovalchuk with all board members communicates equally and kindly "until the first mistake, and he never had a special disposition towards Turcan".