MOSCOW. April 9 (Interfax) - Moscow's Cheryomushkinsky District Court has taken into custody, put under house arrest and issued a restraining order for three people implicated in a criminal case involving illegal issuance of Russian language and history knowledge certificates, including to employees of the Pushkin State Russian Language Institute, the court press service told Interfax.
Thus, Marina Balburova was put under house arrest and Gennady Tarasenko was taken into custody until June 8. The third person, Tatyana Novikova, was banned from certain actions.
Depending on their roles, they were charged with organizing illegal migration and exceeding their powers.
According to the Moscow directorate of the Russian Investigative Committee, a group of people, including employees of the Pushkin State Russian Language Institute, "organized illegal issuance to foreign citizens of certificates certifying their knowledge of the Russian language, history and foundations of the Russian legislation for their further provision to the migration departments of the Interior Ministry" in the southwestern part of Moscow no later than December 11, 2023.
The investigators have established that most of the foreigners did not have any actual Russian knowledge.
"These criminal actions helped issue residence permits on the territory of the Moscow area," the Investigative Committee said.