St. Petersburg regional department of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs is checking Oskord-SPb Security Company owned by the family of State Duma Deputy Gennady Gudkov.
The formal reason for the investigation is to check observance of the weapons control legislation. As the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported, a number of violations have already revealed. It is being considered to withdraw several tens of weapons from the company.
Gennady Gudkov said he believes the root cause of the events is in his protest activities. He said that “in this case, the situation is not as acute as before. Most likely, it is the echoes of past cases. The weapons were seized, but only for ten days. The license hasn’t been withdrawn. St. Petersburg police officers have worked more correctly than their Moscow colleagues before. They haven’t begun to pull down company work”, he said. “It seems that St. Petersburg just had to report to the leadership of the capital that they had done everything within reasonable limits. Of course, they could have withdrawn no weapons and given us time for amendment. But it doesn’t matter; we can stand over for ten days. Such things have happened before. I probably should apologize for the harsh initial reaction, but it is clear in my situation.”
Dmitry Gudkov, the son of the deputy, responded more shortly. He said in his Twitter, “We won’t get out of the protest movement!”
Oskord-SPb Company was established in 1997. It is a member of Oskord association of security (Moscow). Oskord-SPb employs more than 450 licensed security guards, most of them are authorized to use firearms and special equipment.