State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Rashkin confessed to killing an elk found in the car on October 29 
State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, who is suspected of Valery Rashkin in illegal hunting, confessed to killing a moose. He published his video message on the YouTube channel.
It's time to openly, publicly and publicly dot the i. I have nothing to fear and hide from society. Therefore, I will honestly share with you the truth about this
Deputy Valery RashkinThe deputy thought that he had permission to shoot ungulates
According to Rashkin, when visiting his friends Vladimir Matrosov and Alexander Gnoshev, he did not drink alcohol. The politician stressed that Matrosov told him that they had permission to shoot ungulates near the village. According to him, Rashkin had no reason not to trust his friend, since earlier the necessary documents were always drawn up for his hunt by invitation.
The deputy believes that the absence of a hunting permit was used by unknown people who allegedly arranged provocation against him.
“I realized that I became a victim of a coincidence,” he is sure.
Rashkin said that he confused a moose with a wild boar
The deputy said that he saw the animal three hours after the start of the hunt. He decided to kill him, for which he took a tripod and a carbine out of the car, and then loaded the weapon.
Due to poor visibility through the scope's thermal imager, I saw a silhouette of an artiodactyl, resembling a large wild boar, at a distance of about 250 meters … I fired two shots towards the silhouette of the animal, and after a while the silhouette fell. After that I left my weapon and tripod and went to the place where the animal fell
Deputy Valery Rashkin
He added that he approached the corpse of the beast, which turned out to be an elk, and then butchered it with an ax and a knife. The politician could not, according to him, load the cut moose into the car, so he called one of his friends, who helped him drag the carcass into the trunk. They decided to leave the skin, head and hooves of the animal at the edge of the forest.
Rashkin's previous version was about the abandoned corpse of an elk and the FSB in the forest
On the night of October 29, in the Lysogorsky district of the Saratov region, the police and an employee of the regional hunting and fishing committee stopped a LADA Largus car, in which there was a State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Valery Rashkin, along with a 49-year-old man. A cut moose carcass was found in the trunk of a car.
When the deputy was caught after an illegal hunt, he said that he saw a dead elk carcass in the forest while walking with friends and was going to hand it over to law enforcement officers. According to Rashkin, when he was caught, there was “a whole horde of FSB officers, police, environmental structures” nearby
He stated that he lied to the police officers because he feared for his friend. “In order not to accidentally set anyone up, I didn’t find anything better and blurted out that I had found the carcass of this elk,” Rashkin admitted.
The hunting inspector did not believe in the new version of Rashkin. it is impossible to confuse a two-meter-tall moose with a wild boar with short legs. He emphasized that the weather conditions could affect the visibility in the thermal imager, but the optics there must be good.
“In general, it is customary for real hunters: I'm not sure, don't shoot,” the specialist emphasized.
Earlier, the Prosecutor General asked the State Duma to deprive the deputy of immunity
On November 17, Russian Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov submitted to the State Duma the idea of depriving Rashkin of parliamentary immunity. According to the head of the State Duma credentials committee Otari Arshba, this issue will be considered on November 22 or 23.
The Communist Party was unhappy with the public statements about the Prosecutor General's proposal. According to the head of the party's press service, Alexander Yushchenko, this is a political process, which is “colored by the darkness of the forest and all sorts of animal interpretations.” Yushchenko noted that from the very beginning the deputy wanted to give all his testimony, and his letters to the Prosecutor General's Office and the Investigative Committee remained unanswered.
He added that the members of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation will continue to defend Rashkin.
In case of loss Rashkin's immunity could face up to five years in prison With Lenta.ru, lawyer Rodion Yuryev suggested that Rashkin could face just such a punishment.
“If it was, say, in a specially protected area, imprisonment for up to two years is possible. And if this is committed by a group of persons – as in this case, together – then imprisonment from three to five years and deprivation of the right to occupy some positions are provided, “he explained.