Russian Svetlana Timofeeva served 9 months in prison for espionage in Albania. She is accused of approaches and actions that conflict with Albania’s affairs as a NATI country. But what is its truth? Eljan Tanini spoke with him on Report TV.
Tanini: – How long have you been staying in Albania?
Svetlana: -I have been out of prison for 8 months, I have been living here for about a year and a half.
Tanini: Why did you go to prison? For what reason, where did you serve your sentence? Where did you serve your 9 month sentence?
Svetlana: – On August 20, 2022, I was accused of espionage!
Tanini: – What do the letters say the most about you, punishment?
Svetlana: – I have the impression that this was created by journalists. They shot my friend in Gramsh, those who hit him called the police, and they told the opposite about this in the territory of an Albanian military factory.
Tanini: – How did you find this military location in Albania, where did you get this information?
Svetlana: – I did not find this base, but my friend, the one who threw “pepper” for the soldiers. It is a military base that is easily found even on Google.
Tanini: – Is this your passion to find such places?
Svetlana: – Yes, we are interested in the history of the 20th century. There are still these abandoned artifacts. I was able now through my photos to save these buildings in the photo.
Tanini: -How did you enter, how did you enter this military base?
Svetlana: – Once again I want to say that I have never met any soldier before. No collision occurred.
Tanini: -So there was no soldier there?
Svetlana: – We drove there, saw many abandoned and destroyed buildings. We entered one of them through a hole. There were many trees and bushes. We didn’t get out of there together. I saw that Fyodor had left, we joined the main road. I didn’t have a phone card, I went to the village to contact the boys.
Svetlana: – When Fjodor and I left by car, there in Cërrik, he said that the police had stopped him. The police came from Tirana and Elbasan, it was the anti-terror police. We realized we were in trouble. They stopped us on the 20th, they asked us the questions on the 21st when all the papers and procedures started.
Tanini: – How were the people who investigated you, did they understand that you are a blogger or were they idiots who did not want to understand anything?
Svetalana: – The investigators have asked us specifically. For me, there were 5-6 aggressive men.
Svetlana: – They said it was a lie. I did not have an interpreter and my rights were not explained to me. My family in Russia only found out through the news.
Tanini: – Why did this story become known there as well?
Stvetlana: Yes, the news was that Russian spies hit military buildings. The Russian services have also opened a procedure for this. They said she’s not a spy but she gets in where she shouldn’t be.
Tanini: – If they return you to Russia, would you have penalties there? Will they keep you in jail?
Svetlana: – I will not go to Russia, they will arrest me there. I will go to prison there for many years. I have no intention of returning to Russia.
Tanini: – When the police surrounded you, did you see it as something that was happening for fun or did you say that now you got into trouble?
Svetlana: – I thought instantly that now we are really getting into trouble!
Tanini: – Is this story related to money that may have been required to enter that military unit?
Svetlana: – Before Mikail was interrogated, either they forced him or they shot him, he signed a document without a translator that was in the Albanian language. These are basic documents for the court.
Tanini: Do you see the same lifestyle as in Albania and Russia in terms of the types of consequences of communism? The same mental stupidity?
Svetlana: In Russia, the socialist era is over, there are people who don’t think so. In Albania there are people who want to move forward. Now in Europe, the Russians are facing problems, they see you with doubts. The police stopped another group of tourists from the Czech Republic, but no one detained them for three days. But, a criminal procedure has simply been opened. For us this is not over, we are without documents, we cannot work, we cannot open a bank account and there is no limit or limit to how long this thing will last.
Tanini: – Miss “Russian spy”, what do you live with in Albania? Where are you surviving now? First of all, where did you serve your sentence?
Svetlana: – My friends were left in prison 313 for 9 months, while I was taken to a hospital prison, I couldn’t talk to others, and I called my parents after two months. I spent the first 3 months in the prison hospital. The lawyer made a request to clarify the actions, and then I was sent to the women’s prison in Ali Demi, then I stayed there. I have been isolated for almost half a year.
Tanini: – In Ali Demi’s Women’s Prison, you don’t go crazy easily because there are other ladies, but in the Hospital Prison, you didn’t play with your mind?
Svetlana: – I hope not! There I spoke only with the policewoman. There was not even a library in the hospital. The director of the prison hospital found me two books in English. I couldn’t even get my lawyer on the phone, they didn’t give me this opportunity. Even at the moment of detention and arrest, I was not read my rights. After 2 months, representatives from the organization that protects human rights and from the Ombudsman came to the prison hospital. It was written there that the institution that held me should provide me with communication with the lawyer. To this day, no one told me why I was being kept in the Prison Hospital.
Tanini: – How do you ensure income in Albania? Where do you live? How is your life here? You don’t even have a residence permit here
Svetlana: -After we got out of prison, we rented an apartment in Tirana. Family helps someone, not me. We also live on our former income. We cannot otherwise, only through the lawyer or friends to receive any money from friends.
Tanini: – Have you regretted this story? Do you regret it?
Svetlana: – I don’t regret coming to Albania, but I only think about the lost time. I have to live here. They haven’t given me any documents yet. They didn’t give me any documents even for the police housing, I only have a letter from the prosecutor. I am waiting for the court’s decision, the police were wrong. This has been accepted by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense, there has been no activity on this base for almost 30 years, we have not committed any crime. If in Albania you cannot prove the fact of the activity you have performed or not, as in my case, you will be imprisoned for 9 months.
Tanini: – What was the military base like from the inside, what did you see there when you entered?
Svetlana: – There are almost 15 destroyed buildings, inside there are tanks, there are creeping plants. It is an abandoned factory, it is being preserved so that it will not be completely destroyed.
Tanini: – Is there old ammunition there?
Svetlana: – There are some parts of grenades, parts of wooden weapons, and all these remains were found in a minimal way. It was nice to return it to the museum. The level of preservation of this place is too high to turn it into a tourist spot.
Tanini: -Albania has many such places, those places that belong to Albanian military archeology are very interesting. What do your parents say about this event that happened to you?
Svetlana: – My parents do not have a clear opinion on this issue. They believe what they show in the news, if it is in the news that I am an international spy, they believe it. They do not understand or do not want to understand and believe that if I return to Russia they will arrest me. Maybe they think it’s better to be in prison in your own country than abroad.
Tanini: -Does Russia today have a majority communist population?
Svetlana: – The Russian population does not call itself communist, but patriot.
Tanini: – What about the Russian Embassy in Tirana, what has it said, what has it done for you?
Svetlana: – No one from the Russian Embassy has helped me even when my father asked me why they don’t help his daughter. The Russian Embassy has said that I have refused their help, because they have not actually offered me any kind of help, I have not heard or received anything from them. From Russia I have received only the extradition request.
Tanini: Do you have sisters and brothers?
Svetlana: – I have two brothers older than me.
Tanini: – What do they think about your arrest?
Svetlana: – They have their family, they have their private life. In Russia it is normal that when children grow up, they live separately. It’s not like I had any common communication with my brothers, each one has seen his own life and vice versa. If they don’t care about that, I don’t care about them either.
Tanini: – Who helps you the most in Albania?
Svetlana: – I survive on my own, my friends help me with things I can’t order, so they buy for me.
Tanini: – What happens
Tanini: – Is today’s Russia a country where people have freedom and equal rights? Or is it a country where they put you in jail for nothing, or is it a country where the oligarchy prevails and the middle and poor people continue to suffer?
Svetlana: – In Russia there are different layers of society, the middle layer of society prevails, there are government oligarchs, there are people living in poverty. 80-85 percent of Russians do not have a passport and have never tried to get one.
Tanini: -How many m2 is your apartment in Russia? where do you live
Svetlana: – In Moscow I lived in an apartment that is about 30 m2.
Tanini: – Are the prices high or can you survive in a city like Moscow?
Svetlana: – In Russia, apart from rent or purchase, all products, medicine, etc… are much cheaper. To buy the apartment is very difficult, you need a 30-year loan, because there are no imported cars except Chinese ones. After the war, prices increased 2-3 times more.
Tanini: Comrade Putin, is he a dictator?
Svetlana: – In Russia he is categorized as a democrat. Now they have started to take immigrants to fight in the war, give them the Russian passport and tell them: “Take the passport and now go to war”.
Tanini: – You didn’t tell me, Putin, is he a dictator or not?
Svetlana: – Yes, he is a dictator. In more than 20 years of his government, he has changed many laws, he has changed the constitution, he has made there is no alternative solution. 90 percent of his party is in Parliament. I think this is a dictatorship. Any person who publicly speaks out against Putin can be arrested and fined. If you say publicly that the soldiers who are fighting in Ukraine are doing wrong, you can be caught by the discrimination article, you can go to prison for several years.
Tanini: -Which places do you like the most in Albania?
Svetlana: – Tunnels, there are abandoned factories, I like the atmosphere they create. I publish pictures often, most of them are foreigners who comment on me and who want to go to these countries together. I see a great tourist potential in Albania with these buildings, especially those of industrial archaeology. They are artifacts of Albania from the 20th century. Albania is North Korea, that’s what they tell me. For nature and beaches they can go to other places, but you can’t find these buildings anywhere.
Tanini: – Are there different animals in these bunkers?
Svetlana: – I have seen bats in some bunkers and tunnels in Tirana, domestic animals in some bunkers in Lezhë and Shkodër, if you go from Tirana to Durrës there are bunkers where they keep sheep.
Tanini: – With all that happened to you in Albania, do you hate Albania or the Albanians more?
Svetlana: – I don’t hate anyone, I hate any kind of bureaucracy. My enemy in Albania is the bureaucracy, because the police are not closing my case. My political asylum is not happening either.
Tanini: – Do you have a message?
Svetlana: – I would like the government to help me, because I cannot return to Russia. I am ready to enter the field of tourism. I am ready to talk with the local government about various initiatives in the field of tourism.
