Leonid Gozman said that he was to blame for the arrest of his wife

Opposition politician and public figure Leonid Gozman, who left Russia in September 2022, commented on the house arrest of his wife Marina Yegorova in the case of smuggling of cultural values. The politician stated that “unfortunately, the offense took place” and that he himself was to blame for the incident.

“In the summer of last year, while in Moscow, Marina, at my request, handed over a set of silver and cupronickel kitchen utensils that previously belonged to my late parents, and to them – my grandmother and grandfather, in order to transfer these things in accordance with the last will of my parents to our daughter in Germany – the parents wanted it to be with her my wife was convinced and convinced now that these things have neither cultural nor serious material value. should have been with our daughter. Nevertheless, I showed irresponsibility, broke the law and forced my wife to break it, which, of course, could not refuse me,” Gozman wrote on his Facebook page.

The politician added that his wife has no complaints against the investigation and FSIN employees, and that “everything is carried out according to the law and as correctly as possible.”

• On Thursday morning, pro-Kremlin mass media reported that a criminal case had been opened against Leonid Gozman’s wife, Marina Yegorova, in which she could face up to 12 years in prison – due to the fact that the preliminary indictment mentions smuggling committed by an “organized group”. The “group” means Gozman, Egorova and the driver who transported her. Earlier, Leonid Gozman wrote on Facebook that due to personal circumstances he is reducing “public activity”, he did not explain the specific reasons for such a decision.
• In July, the Gagarinsky District Court of Moscow sentenced Leonid Gozman in absentia to 8.5 years in prison. He was found guilty of spreading so-called fakes about the Russian army. The reason was publications on Facebook and the Telegram channel, in which, according to the investigation, there is an “intentional distortion” of facts about the course of the “special military operation” in Ukraine. From the very beginning, Gozman condemns the Russian invasion.