Russian billionaire seeks asylum in Montenegro

Local media in Montenegro reported on October 2nd that Telman Ismailov has filed a request for asylum in this country, a day after being arrested in Podgorica, as there was an international arrest warrant issued by Russia.

The Vijesti newspaper reported that the demand for political asylum could complicate Ismailov's extradition to Russia.

His son, Alekper Ismailov, owns a casino in the coastal town of Budva.

In Russia, the Russian billionaire is accused of paying for the murder of two businessmen in the Moscow region in 2016. He is also accused of kidnapping a singer in 2004.

Ismailov once was one of many businessmen in Russia. In 2009, Russian authorities closed a market in an external environment due to <x0-trice and security violations” and the carrying out of illegal activities.

At the time, Russia's Detective Committee said that the market functioned as a <x0->state within a state of”. Critics say closing the Cherizovsky market may have been part of a battle for real estate in Moscow.

This businessman has been targeted by Russian President Vladimir Putin because of his luxurious lifestyle.

The closure of the market occurred weeks after Putin berated Ismailov for holding a luxury inauguration party at his five-star hotel Mardan Place in Turkey at a time when the Russians were suffering after the 1998 financial crisis.

Witnesses in that organization said that $100 bills were issued from the ceiling on guests, including Hollywood stars and members of Russian elites. One of the guests at that party has been then Montenegro's prime minister, and now the president, Milo Djukanovic, reports Vijesti.

Putin has said that the billions of dollars earned in Russia should be invested in the country, not in projects abroad.

Ismailov eventually fled Russia and his property there was confiscated.