The issue was raised in the wake of a case linked with the illegal sale of government residences, involving Former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov as the purchaser of a government residence.
The press office of the Federal Guard Service released a statement.
"A business publication article says that the Federal Guard Service, the owner of two government residences, allegedly issued permission in 2003 to transfer these assets to the Property Ministry. The Property Ministry, as the article further says, made relevant decisions on these properties presuming that the Federal Guard Service was subordinate to the Russian president only.
"The article's author refers to the Property Ministry's presumption and drops a heavy hint that the Federal Guard Service of Russia made the decision on the government residences' transfer with the Russian president's consent. However, this assertion has nothing to do with reality," the statement says. "The Russian government has the powers to decide on the transfer of federal properties from one body to another. However, neither the Russian president, nor the Federal Guard Service of Russia are vested with such powers."
According to the statement, the Federal Guard Service of Russia was instructed by the Kasyanov government to transfer the government residences Sosnovka-1 and Sosnovka-3 to the State Property Ministry.
"But these residences remained under federal ownership. The Federal Guard Service had no relation to the subsequent change of title to these properties, after they were transferred to the State Property Ministry," the statement says.
The Federal Guard Service expressed concern that the state had lost federal property, which it needed.
The Federal Guard Service is the body that provides security to government officials. It is subordinate to the Russian president and the Russian government.
On July 11, the General Prosecutor's Office of Russia said it had begun criminal proceedings at the request of State Duma deputy Alexander Khinshtein against VPK-Invest, a federal state enterprise, which sold a government residence to Kasyanov.
General Prosecutor's Office press service said prosecutors had opened a criminal case on July 1, 2005 against the VPK-Invest head on the charges of material property damage through deception or trust abuse.
