Uruguayan presidential security chief arrested for selling fake passports to Russians

Uruguayan police on September 26 arrested the head of the president's bodyguard at the presidential residence on suspicion of being involved in a scheme to help possibly hundreds of Russian citizens illegally obtain Uruguayan passports, reports Reuters.

Photo: IStock

Prosecutor Gabriela Fossati said on the evening of September 26 that President Luis Lacalle Pou's security chief Alejandro Astesiano was under investigation for involvement in a criminal gang that created fake Russian birth certificates claiming Uruguayan parents.

The goal, she said, was to enable Russians to obtain passports and other official identification documents.

“We are talking about dozens of people, hundreds,” Fossati said.

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According to police sources cited by local media, Astesiano used contacts that allowed him to process the necessary documentation to obtain passports for Russians.

Many Russians have been leaving their country since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th. Those wishing to leave became even more after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization on September 21.

The news of the arrest of Astesiano, who was detained shortly after returning to Uruguay from a trip with Lacalle Pou and his sons, seemed to shock the president.

“I am as surprised as all of you,” the president said at a press conference he called on September 26 in the capital Montevideo. - I feel terrible".

Lacalle Pou promised that prosecutors and police working on the case would be independent and denied other reports of Astesiano's criminal record.

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Earlier on September 26, local media reported on 20 previous investigations into the chief of security, including allegations of fraud, misappropriation and theft.

As ForumDaily wrote earlier:

• On September 21, Putin announced the mobilization in the Russian Federation: the Russians have sold out all the tickets abroad and google 'how to break your arm''.
• The first mobilized Russians are already being prepared for shipment to Ukraine: summons to the citizens of Buryatia liable for military service began to issue on the evening of September 21.
• And journalists, under the guise of military commissars, phoned the sons of Peskov and Mishustin to invite them to the military registration and enlistment office: read what the offspring of politicians answered in our material.

Read also on ForumDaily:

Putin gave Edward Snowden Russian citizenship: can he now be mobilized and sent to Ukraine

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