Uruguayan police on Monday arrested the head of the president’s personal security detail at the presidential residence for allegedly participating in a scheme to help possibly hundreds of Russian nationals illegally obtain Uruguayan passports.
Prosecutor Gabriela Fossati said that Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou’s head of security, Alejandro Astesiano, was being investigated for participating in a criminal ring that created fake Russian birth certificates that claimed Uruguayan parents.
The goal was for the Russians to be able to obtain passports and other official identity documents, Fossati said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“We’re talking about dozens of people, hundreds,” she said.
Police sources cited by local media said that Astesiano used contacts who allowed him to process the required documentation to acquire passports for Russians.
Many Russians have been leaving their country since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 and many more still since Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday last week announced a partial mobilization.
News of the arrest of Astesiano, who was detained shortly after returning to Uruguay from a trip with Lacalle Pou and his sons, appeared to have left the president shaken.
“I’m as surprised as you all are,” the president said at a news conference that he called on Monday in the capital, Montevideo.
Lacalle Pou promised that prosecutors and police working on the case would be independent, and he denied other reports that Astesiano had a criminal record.
Earlier on Monday, local media reported on 20 prior inquiries into Astesiano covering allegations of fraud, misappropriation and theft, among others.
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