A Novorossiisk policeman who videotaped an appeal to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin found himself at the center of three investigations Monday as stunned police officials scrambled to contain the fallout from his damaging accusations of corruption.

The policeman, Alexei Dymovsky, said Monday that part of the reason he had decided to post the two videos on his personal web site late last week was because his superiors had prevented him from raising his concerns during a call-in show with Putin in 2006.

The Investigative Committee said a preliminary investigation was opened into Dymovsky’s claims that his superiors routinely ordered officers to fabricate criminal cases to cover up the police force’s inability to catch real criminals and that he had been promoted after promising to frame an innocent person — a vow he said he never fulfilled.

A second investigation has been opened into Dymovsky on possible charges of slander, the Investigative Committee said in a statement. It said the investigation was opened at the request of Dymovsky’s boss, Novorossiisk Primorsky precinct police chief Valery Medvedev, and several senior regional police officials.

Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev ordered an investigation into the Novorossiisk police force Sunday evening and suspended Dymovsky pending the results, which he said he would report to Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev.

The Krasnodar regional police, meanwhile, announced Sunday that its own inquiry had found no evidence to substantiate the video claims and Dymovsky had been fired for slander.

Dymovsky said Monday that he first tried to appeal to then-President Putin during a televised call-in show in 2006. The annual show, a hallmark of Putin’s presidency, was a carefully orchestrated event that the Kremlin touted as a chance for ordinary people to catch the ear of the president. Dymovsky said he submitted a question asking Putin when lawlessness would end in the Krasnodar police force. “After that, I was called into the office of the police chief and pressured by my superiors,” Dymovsky said at a news conference in the Krasnodar region, Interfax reported. “I was given a phone number. I called and said my question was a mistake.”

Dymovsky, who repeatedly expressed concern for the safety of his family, said he was planning to come to Moscow. “My aim is to raise up the public so the government will support policemen and there will be no bad behavior from police administrators,” he said.

In a sign of how Dymovsky’s accusations have shocked the police force, one official went so far as to accuse him of being in cahoots with the U.S. government. “The chosen way, form and time of the video release proves that Dymovsky is supported by a third party,” the official in the Interior Ministry’s security department told Interfax.

The unidentified official explained that Dymovsky had the backing of human rights groups, including one local organization that receives financial support from USAID, a U.S. government agency that provides economic and humanitarian assistance.

Calls to the Interior Ministry for comment went unanswered Monday.