Five business associations ask Russia's top investigator to move American investment manager to house arrest

Five business associations have appealed directly to Russian Federal Investigative Committee Director Alexander Bastrykin, asking him to transfer American investment manager Michael Calvey from pretrial detention to house arrest, according to the magazine RBC.

Calvey, the founder of the Baring Vostok investment firm, was detained last week and formally arrested over the weekend. The letter to Bastrykin bears the signatures of the leaders of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, the German-Russian Chamber of Foreign Trade, the Association of European Businesses, the Franco-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.

On Monday, Russian Business Commissioner Boris Titov condemned Calvey’s arrest, calling it “clearly unlawful.” Calvey has also received public support from Yandex CEO Arkady Volozh, Sberbank head German Gref, and Tinkoff Bank founder Oleg Tinkoff.

Baring Vostok is one of the biggest funds specializing in investments in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Over the past 25 years, Baring Vostok has poured more than $2.8 billion into 80 companies in Russia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine. It was one of Yandex’s first investors, buying 35.7 percent of the company in 2000. Baring Vostok has also invested in 1C, Avito.ru, the television network STS, Ivi.ru, Profi.ru, Evroplan, First Collection Bureau, Vostochny Bank, Renaissance Insurance, Tinkoff Bank, and many other businesses.