The case of the “Russian mafia” in Spain. Gennady Petrov and Leonid Khristoforov put on the international wanted list Leonid Khristoforov

An armed conflict broke out near the Music bar nightclub in St. Petersburg last weekend. As it turned out, the deceased was a Chechen, and his fellow countrymen, according to some sources, had already arrived in the Northern capital for retribution. The city may be in for a bloody continuation of the conflict, law enforcement officials fear.

In addition, it turned out that a 42-year-old crime boss from the Tambov gang, Leonid Khristoforov, who was among the visitors, was involved in the events at Music bar 11, Fontanka writes. He is currently wanted by Interpol as a member of the “Russian mafia” who escaped from the Spanish prosecutor’s office. However, Russian authorities refuse to extradite Khristoforov.

Shots were fired at the doors of Music bar 11, located at house number 11 on Malaya Morskaya Street, on the night of December 16. Among the well-known people in St. Petersburg who attended the ill-fated party at the karaoke club, the waiters identified Leonid Khristoforov. 41-year-old Saliy Kuzgov and a certain “fixer in the field of Azerbaijani business” were vacationing with him.

According to Fontanka, this Azerbaijani authority enjoys special influence among people from the Shamkhor region of Azerbaijan, who have already committed serious crimes in the Northern capital.

Thus, on October 11, in a cafe on Rabfakovsky Lane, a 33-year-old native of the Shamkhor district, Garadzha Zamanov, fired five bullets at 31-year-old Adam Kuliev, with whom he did not share the counterfeit alcohol market. The murder was preceded by a shootout in the Nevsky Forest Park, which took place on October 8. Then five people from Azerbaijan received gunshot wounds.

It is not known for certain what caused the shooting at Music bar 11. However, at about 3:00, when Chechen Adam Dashaev and his friend from Ingushetia left the club, four Azerbaijani guests followed them. This was recorded by security cameras. A couple of minutes later shots were heard.

According to eyewitnesses, a fight broke out between the parties to the conflict and, despite their numerical superiority, the Azerbaijanis were unable to defeat the natives of the North Caucasus in a fist fight. Then three of them took out combat pistols and shot 26-year-old Adam Dashaev at point-blank range, who died on the spot.

According to preliminary data, the killers used TT, PM and weapons converted to fire cartridges for the Makarov pistol.

The next day, December 17, a flight landed at Pulkovo, on which friends and relatives of the deceased flew from Chechnya. It is possible that the murder of a Chechen who went to a karaoke club could provoke a large-scale criminal war.

“Operatives are trying to control the situation, but most likely there will be a retaliatory action. We are waiting,” the St. Petersburg criminal investigation department said.

A high-profile trial of the Russian mafia continues in Spain, revealing more and more details of money laundering schemes by members of the Tambov-Malyshevskaya organized crime group. The Russians, as the state prosecution assures, created hundreds of companies for which real estate was registered. Then it was resold many times at increasing costs through companies controlled by the same people. The CrimeRussia also learned the opinion of opponents who insist on the political motive of Operation Troika.

Among figures with less famous names than Sergey Kuzmin or Vladislav Reznik, the Spanish prosecutor's office singles out Leonid Khristoforov and Yuri Salikov.

These are active members of the Tambov-Malyshevskaya organized crime group who participated in the creation and management of companies through which criminal proceeds were laundered, according to the preliminary investigation materials.

Leonid Khristoforov is known in criminal circles as the Fuhrer. In 2001, he was sentenced by the St. Petersburg City Court to an 11-year sentence for organizing the murder in 1996 of the commercial director of Krasny Khimik JSC, Alexander Egorov. Four years after the verdict, he was released on parole; before his new arrest in Spain, he served as an informal curator of Gennady Petrov’s St. Petersburg business, associated with the maritime transportation of fuel. During his last visit to the boss, Leonid Khristoforov was detained as part of.

Arrest of Gennady Petrov

Among those accused in the first lines is Yuri Salikov, one of the key members of the group, according to Spanish prosecutors. According to the arrest warrant signed by the judge of the National Court of Justice, Baltasar Garzon, Salikov was involved in arms smuggling in the past. He allegedly supplied Russian military aircraft to Angola.

Leonid Khristoforov

Leonid Khristoforov is called the right hand of Gennady Petrov, who carried out his orders and represented his interests in Russia, in particular managing his assets. He was his representative at “gatherings” with others, about which he kept Petrov informed.

Vladimir Barsukov - Kumarin in court

In addition, over the phone, Petrov and Leonid Khristoforov discussed the promotion of Nikolai Aulov (at that time the head of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate), whom the Spanish prosecutor’s office considers a member of the “Russian mafia”, responsible for relations with Russian security forces. At the same time, Aulov himself explained the recorded telephone conversations by saying that he used Gennady Petrov as an informant. He allegedly conveyed “useful information on a number of issues.”

Nikolai Aulov - Lieutenant General of Police. He was deputy head of the Northern and Northwestern Regional Department for Combating Organized Crime. Since November 2006 - Head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for the Central Federal District. In June 2008, he was appointed deputy director of the Federal Drug Control Service - head of the Operational Investigation Department. After the dissolution of the Federal Drug Control Service, there is no information about Aulov’s appointments. Under the pseudonym Nikolai Sofronov, he is a co-author of Andrei Konstantinov’s detective bestsellers “Gangster Petersburg”, “Lawyer”, etc.

Petrov's protection

As the investigation established, Leonid Khristoforov transferred funds to Spain in the amount of more than 400 thousand euros and purchased real estate worth about 1.9 million euros. In particular, he approached one of the branches of La Caixa Bank in Palma de Mallorca to open an account and apply for a loan. Despite the lack of work and confirmation of his income, the application was granted. The preliminary investigation materials note that the loan was approved thanks to Petrov’s patronage at the bank. However, details about connections in the credit institution are not disclosed. “A person who has just arrived in Spain, without a job and without assets, receives a loan of 1.9 million.

Using the loan provided, Leonid Khristoforov bought a house in Mallorca at Carrer Gran Via Eivissa, 7 (Calvia). This is a rather modest mansion, especially in comparison with the real estate of Petrov, Malyshev and Reznik. At the same time, he managed to maintain a high standard of living and expenses in Spain, using money of criminal origin, prosecutors say.

However, Khristoforov’s participation in dubious transactions in Spain ends here, since his main activities in the interests of the organized crime group were carried out in Russia. And since the Russian security forces were reluctant to cooperate with the Spanish prosecutor’s office, there is very little information about Khristoforov in the preliminary investigation materials.

At that time, some considered Yuri Salikov, who is now doing business in Sweden, to be the eminence grise of the criminal world in St. Petersburg. Yuri Salikov is also mentioned in his famous book “Gangster Petersburg” by the writer Andrei Konstantinov:

Yuri Salikov did not like to shine, but he worked a lot - he traded in antiques that went abroad in unknown ways, and oversaw underground denim factories. Yuri had a brother, Igor. Salikov constantly called on the gangster youth to “be realistic” and constantly reminded them that “they need to work hard.” They did not commit atrocities, working mainly against those who would not go to the police to complain - bartenders who were not getting enough beer for the proletariat, petty theft hotel administrators and waiters, prostitutes and slop taxi drivers.

When taking money from a client, the group often practiced the usual cheating game of cards. There were no traces of blood behind them; they were limited mainly to drunken fights with bruises and broken teeth. The range of their “business interests” was unusually wide: the group was engaged in everything from collecting gambling debts and buying up antiques to speculating in light bulbs, and the pinnacle of its technical equipment was a Lada car with a “radar detector.” I did not hear anything about him until the summer of 2008, when the media reported that Yuri Salikov had been arrested in Spain along with Alexander Malyshev, Gennady Petrov and other Malyshevskys as part of a high-profile special operation by Spanish law enforcement officers.

Money laundering companies

Subsequently, in the preliminary investigation materials, Yuri Salikov was named as an active and important member of the organized crime group, who, together with Sergei Kuzmin and Gennady Petrov, participated in the creation of companies for money laundering. In 2009, Yuri Salikov was convicted in Spain for illegal VAT refunds amounting to more than 20 million euros. The Central Court sentenced him to prison for 2.5 years. On this basis, the prosecutor's office is charging business partners associated with Salikov with violating Spanish tax laws.

His closest partners were the brothers Georgy and Peter Vasetsky, who are now fugitives from justice. The company used for the fraud was Ikstessav Investments SL (a palindrome from the surname “Vasetsky”), founded on March 1, 1996 with an authorized capital of 338 thousand euros. Its co-founders in equal shares were Petrov, Salikov, Vasetsky and.

An apartment at 33 la Avenida Gabriel Roca was sold through the company Ikstessav Investments SL. In 1997, the property and parking space were bought from a controlled company by Peter Vasetsky and Gennady Petrov for 210 thousand euros. In 1999, Vasetsky became the sole owner of the apartment, buying out Petrov’s share for 66 thousand euros. And in 2000, the apartment was bought by the company Sunstar Inversiones SL, whose legal address coincides with the address of the house where Yuri Salikov and his wife Barbara lived. Interestingly, the mansion is located directly opposite Gennady Petrov’s villa.

Through Ikstessav Investments SL and Sunstar Inversiones SL, many purchases of real estate were recorded, which were then resold to companies controlled by Petrov for the purpose of money laundering. In fact, "" bought the entire Sol de Mallorca area. The preliminary investigation materials mention about 10 real estate objects that passed through the companies of Petrov and Salikov. For some reason, one of the houses was sold on behalf of Yuri Salikov’s father, Russian citizen Mikhail Salikov.

In addition, Yuri Salikov took loans from his companies Ikstessav Investments SL and Sunstar Inversiones SL, and then returned them by contributing money to the company’s charter. During 2002, Yuri Salikov brought a total of 900 thousand euros into the company Sunstar Inversiones SL, the origin of which is unknown and which significantly exceeds the amount of income indicated in the tax return of the married couple.

At the same time, according to accounting reports, almost all of the funds of the Sunstar Inversiones SL company were spent on the construction of a residential building and the purchase of a BMW car. And after completion of construction, the company paid for the improvement of the house, expenses for its maintenance and bills (electricity, water, gardening, maintenance of swimming pools, etc.), as well as the maintenance of a luxury SUV.

The company's only expenses on its personnel were payments to director Yuri Salikov. Yuri Salikov did not have a single employee under his command and paid his own salary.

Salikov's testimony

In court, Yuri Salikov stated that he had been Gennady Petrov’s partner in two companies “for a short time,” and knew about Petrov’s criminal past only “from rumors.” They were neighbors and “walked the dogs together.”

Salikov said that he does not remember for what purpose the capital of Sunstar Inversiones SL was increased from 1,502 euros to 2.4 million euros in less than three years. The money to increase capitalization, according to him, was given to him by his father, and it was also obtained through tax evasion schemes in the amount of 20 million euros, for which he had previously been sentenced in 2009 to 2.5 years in prison.

Yuri Salikov said that he was not connected with the main suspects in the case in Spain - Alexander Malyshev, Olga Solovyova, Viktor Gavrilenkov and Sergei Kuzmin.

The CrimeRussia was able to contact the above-mentioned brother of Yuri Salikov, Igor. He said that the whole story with the “Russian mafia” lies only in the political plane. According to Igor Salikov, Spain, experiencing a crisis, made concessions for foreign investors, which Russian entrepreneurs took advantage of. They started running a legal real estate business in Spain. However, then, in 2006–2008, Russia’s role in the international arena began to strengthen and Western intelligence agencies passed on tips to Spanish law enforcement agencies about supposedly fraudulent businessmen who could be accused of having connections with the Russian authorities and thereby undermine the authority of the Kremlin in the face of foreign partners. It is for this reason that influential politicians, deputies and officials were included in the list of suspects. And the trial, which had been in preparation for 10 years, began precisely on the eve of the Russian presidential elections.

Gennady Petrov and Leonid Khristoforov put on the international wanted list

Dmitry Marakulin

The National Court of Spain has put a Russian businessman with Greek citizenship on the international wanted list. Gennady Petrov, his wife and his acquaintance Leonid Khristoforov, whom Spanish authorities suspect of involvement in money laundering and membership in the Tambov criminal community. Now Gennady Petrov, according to media reports, may be in St. Petersburg. The Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region is not yet ready to confirm or deny information about the search for Gennady Petrov and Leonid Khristoforov.

In the summer of 2008, Spanish law enforcement agencies carried out a large-scale Operation Troika, during which a reputable businessman was detained Alexander Malyshev and people from his close circle, including businessman Gennady Petrov and Leonid Khristoforov. This operation, led by Judge Baltasar Garzón, was presented by the Spanish authorities as the liquidation of members Tambov criminal community. Immigrants from Russia were suspected of involvement in money laundering, document falsification and tax evasion. This operation began with an audit of the activities of Gennady Petrov’s enterprises, through which, according to the Spanish police, money was laundered.

In 2010, Leonid Khristoforov and Gennady Petrov were released on bail in the amount of €300 thousand and €600 thousand, respectively. The following year, Spanish authorities gave Gennady Petrov permission to visit Russia to meet his mother. After this visit, the businessman returned. In April of this year, Gennady Petrov and his wife, as well as Leonid Khristoforov, received permission to travel to Russia for treatment. However didn't come back. According to the St. Petersburg online newspaper Fontanka.ru, Petrov and Khristoforov notified the Spanish authorities of their poor health, confirming their words with medical documents.

Three months later, the national court of Spain, as reported by the Spanish ACB, issued an international warrant for the search and arrest of Gennady Petrov, his wife and Leonid Khristoforov.

The Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region told Kommersant that the local Interpol office has a number of information requests from law enforcement agencies in Spain. However, St. Petersburg police are not yet ready to say that it is Leonid Khristoforov or Gennady Petrov who are wanted. Security officials explain this by the fact that, as practice shows, people on the international wanted list often change their personal data. Therefore, it is possible that Leonid Khristoforov or Gennady Petrov may appear in the requests of the Spanish authorities, but under different names.

Lawyer Sergei Afanasyev, representing the interests of a reputable businessman Vladimir Barsukov (Kumarin), whom Russian law enforcement agencies consider the organizer and leader of the Tambov criminal community, told Kommersant that businessman Gennady Petrov is not involved in any criminal case related to his client. “It’s not the first time for Spanish justice to come up with different stories, just as it’s not the first time to arrest someone and then release them,” this is how the lawyer commented on the Spanish media’s version of Gennady Petrov’s membership in the Tambov organized crime group.

In Russia, Gennady Petrov became widely known only after Operation Troika, when European media began writing about the Russian mafia. Leonid Khristoforov gained fame back in the early 2000s during the trial of murder of State Duma deputy Galina Starovoytova. He testified against the group Yuri Kolchin, convicted by the St. Petersburg City Court for the technical organization of a crime. Leonid Khristoforov told how he sold one of the members of Yuri Kolchin’s group the Agram submachine gun, which was used to kill Galina Starovoitova.

"Biography"

Leonid Vitalievich Khristoforov was born on July 7, 1970 in the Krasnodar region. He was convicted three times: in 1995 for robbery and extortion, in 1998 for smuggling, attempted illegal crossing of the state border and the use of knowingly forged documents, and, finally, in 2001 for organizing a murder for personal gain. In 1996, there were 2 attempts on his life.

"News"

In Spain, trial of 27 members of the Russian mafia

The trial of Russians and Spaniards, alleged members of the so-called “Russian mafia,” will begin at the Spanish National Court of Justice (NCJC) on June 12 and will last until July 6, 2017, a Spanish legal source told DW. The trial will take place in the Third Criminal Division of the NSPI, presided over by Judge Felix Alfonso Guevara. Defendants prosecuted for membership in a criminal group and money laundering in Spain face sentences ranging from 5 and a half to 8 and a half years, as well as a fine totaling 2.7 billion euros.

9 year investigation

The arrests of the defendants in the upcoming trial were made back in 2008 as part of the police operation Troika. Entrepreneurs Gennady Petrov, Alexander Malyshev, Yuri Salikov, Leonid Khristoforov, Leonid Khazin, Mikhail Rebo and others ended up in the hands of the police. In accordance with the conclusion of the Spanish prosecutor's office published in the press in 2016, they are accused of belonging to the St. Petersburg Tambov and Malyshevsky criminal communities. Their Spanish accomplices were also brought to justice.

It is also clear from the document from the prosecutor’s office that the capital – we are talking about millions of euros – that has been “rolled” in Spain since 1996 through 19 companies created by the group, was obtained in Russia through criminal means, in particular, as a result of extortion and raider seizures of property. The investigation also revealed that the persons operating in Spain had high patrons in Russia, for example, Police Colonel General Nikolai Aulov and former deputy chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Igor Sobolevsky.

The case of the “Russian mafia” in Spain: a resonant process lies ahead

We are talking only about economic crimes - about the laundering of Russian capital here, presumably of criminal origin. The public outcry, Quintana added, is most likely caused by the identities of the accused and their connections in Russia, identified by the Spanish investigative authorities. The lawyer believes that the materials of the Spanish prosecutor's office, presented for the court on 500 pages, are “a kind of saga about Russian crime and Russian society as a whole.”

After all, they include not only the Russians brought to trial, whom the Spaniards call major authorities of the Tambov-Malyshevskaya organized crime group - Gennady Petrov, Alexander Malyshev, Leonid Khristoforov, Yuri Salikov and their accomplices in Spain - 27 people in total. The prosecutor's office also names persons connected with the accused through “business relations” in Russia. And these are representatives not only of the criminal world, but also of the political, business and security forces of Russia.

Spanish media reported that an arrest warrant had been issued for 12 Russians

The judge of the Spanish National Court, Jose da la Mata, issued an arrest warrant for 12 people suspected of having links with the group of the so-called crime boss Gennady Petrov. This was reported by the Spanish agency EFE, RIA Novosti reports.

Spain has put deputy Vladislav Reznik on the international wanted list

State Duma deputy from United Russia Vladislav Reznik has been put on the international wanted list at the request of Spain. The parliamentarian is charged with involvement in a criminal group and money laundering

United Russia deputy Vladislav Reznik and his wife Diana Gindin have been put on the international wanted list by Interpol at the request of Spain. A source close to the deputy told RBC about this. The parliamentarian's lawyer, Alexander Gofshtein, confirmed this information to RBC.

Gennady Petrov and Leonid Khristoforov put on the international wanted list

The National Court of Spain has put on the international wanted list a Russian businessman with Greek citizenship, Gennady Petrov, his wife and his acquaintance Leonid Khristoforov, whom the Spanish authorities suspect of involvement in money laundering and membership in the Tambov criminal community. Now Gennady Petrov, according to media reports, may be in St. Petersburg. The Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region is not yet ready to confirm or deny information about the search for Gennady Petrov and Leonid Khristoforov.
link: http://www.compromat.ru/page_ 32358.htm

Vertical redistribution of Mikhalchenko

So the insidious Lavrov is guaranteed to update the review certificates, serving the position of head of the SEB department promised by Shamanin with a further aim. From the banal bandit and murderer Leonid Khristoforov of Kolpinsky (industrial outskirts of St. Petersburg), a young employee of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Andrei Pichushkin molds a person almost guilty of an avalanche of raider takeovers in St. Petersburg. Khristoforov is a successful goal, since he personifies the so-called “Malyshevskaya” organized crime group, which is led by Alexander Malyshev himself from Malaga, Spain, and in Moscow the Malyshevskys are represented by a certain Gennady Petrov. It is the Malyshevskys who could compete with the Tambov ones.
link: http://www.compromat.ru/page_ 19694.htm

Khristoforov, who escaped from Spain, was involved in the murder of a Chechen in St. Petersburg

A party at Music bar 11 last weekend, December 16, ended in shooting and death. Fontanka learned that that night Leonid Khristoforov was relaxing at the club, whose extradition as a member of the “Russian mafia” is demanded by the Spanish authorities. As a result, the conflict between the Azerbaijanis and some Chechens who were walking with him ended in blood. The gangsters who arrived at the meeting fired at point-blank range from three combat pistols. Meanwhile, friends of the deceased from the North Caucasus have already flown to St. Petersburg. The police are expecting a response.
link: http://rospres.com/government/11640/

In St. Petersburg, police detained and released Russians who fled from Spain, simulating a fight against the mafia

In St. Petersburg and its environs, police detained fugitives under investigation who are suspected of laundering funds accumulated by the Tambov criminal group in Spain. The search for the detainees was carried out at the request of Interpol, but they do not face extradition to the Iberian Peninsula, since the law protects domestic crime bosses no worse than other Russians. The spouses Gennady and Elena Petrov, as well as their acquaintance Leonid Khristoforov, were detained, Rosbalt reports, citing a source in law enforcement agencies.
link: http://www.newsru.com/crime/18oct2012/tambovmafiafreespb. html

National judge Santiago Pedraz granted the request of the Spanish prosecutor's office and issued an arrest warrant and a wanted list for Gennady Petrov, his wife and closest partner, an authoritative resident of St. Petersburg, Leonid Khristoforov. Petrov and Khristoforov were arrested by Spanish police in the summer of 2008, they were charged with organizing the Tambov criminal community, conspiracy to launder money, and crimes against society. In January 2010, Judge Pablo Rus decided to release authoritative Russians on bail: Petrov - 600 thousand euros, Khristoforov - 300 thousand euros.
link: http://www.rosbalt.ru/moscow/ 2012/07/20/1013402.html

The Tambovskys were taken as collateral

On Friday it became known that the National Court of Justice of Spain decided to release on bail three defendants in the so-called “Russian mafia case.” According to the newspaper El Mundo, two accused of money laundering, theft of property and forgery of documents, Alexander Malyshev and Leonid Khristoforov, can be released on bail of 500 thousand and 300 thousand euros, respectively. The court made this decision on Thursday.
link: http://www.gazeta.ru/social/ 2010/01/29/3318138.shtml

For the alleged leader of the Tambov-Malyshev group, Gennady Petrov, who has lived in Spain since 1996, bail was set the day before in the amount of 600 thousand euros. Today, two other suspects were released - the so-called “number two” of the Russian mafia in Spain, Alexander Malyshev and Leonid Khristoforov, were “valued” at 500 thousand and 300 thousand euros, respectively.
link: http://www.fontanka.ru/2010/01/29/091/

Tambovskys were found in their homeland

Employees of the National Bureau of Interpol in Russia have established the whereabouts of authoritative entrepreneurs Gennady Petrov and Leonid Khristoforov, who fled from justice in Spain. They will not be handed over to the initiators of the search, but they may be convicted in the Russian Federation for money laundering and participation in a criminal community.
link: http://kommersant.ru/doc/2047628/print

Spain. Russians arrested in 2008 continue to be released on bail

The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Spain decided to release from prison two more Russians suspected of financial fraud on their own recognizance and on a large cash bail. Previously, it was reported here about a bail of 600,000 euros for Petrov, and yesterday, Friday, Alexander Malyshev and Leonid Khristoforov were “valued” at 500 thousand and 300 thousand euros, respectively.
link: http://www.newsspain.ru/novost3842.html

“Russian mafiosi” in Spain released on bail

The National Court of Justice of Spain released on bail three Russians suspected of financial fraud and considered members of the “Russian mafia.” For the alleged leader of the Tambov-Malyshev group, Gennady Petrov, who lived in Spain since 1996 and was involved in money laundering, bail was set the day before in the amount of 600 thousand euros. Today, Friday, two other suspects were released - the so-called “number two” of the Russian mafia in Spain, Alexander Malyshev and Leonid Khristoforov, were “valued” at 500 thousand and 300 thousand euros, respectively. None of the three accused has yet posted bail, Spanish newspaper El Mundo reports.
link: http://versii.com/news/198052/

Tambov mafia in Spain

In Spain, three Russians accused of committing crimes as part of the so-called Tambov criminal group have been released on bail, Gazeta.ru reports. Alexander Malyshev, Leonid Khristoforov and Gennady Petrov are accused of money laundering, theft of property and forgery of documents. All three and 20 other people from their entourage were detained in the summer of 2008 in Palma de Mallorca, Malaga, Alicante and Madrid.
link: http://www.onlinetambov.ru/ sitecontent

Judge Garson leaked to the press negotiations between the deputy head of the Federal Drug Control Service Nikolai Aulov and crime boss Gennady Petrov

The National Court of Justice of Spain decided to release from prison on bail authoritative St. Petersburg businessmen Alexander Malyshev, Gennady Petrov and Leonid Khristoforov. Mr. Petrov quietly returned to his luxurious villa on the island of Mallorca, where he must now regularly report to the commissariat before the trial.
link:

ITAR-TASS: ARKHANGELSK, RUSSIA. JULY 30, 2012. President of Russia Vladimir Putin (L) and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov at the airport. (Photo ITAR-TASS/ Alexey Nikolsky) Russia. Arkhangelsk. July 30. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov (from left to right) at the city airport. Photo ITAR-TASS/ Alexey Nikolsky

Six facts about the “Russian mafia” case in Spain

The crux of the matter

In the 1990s in Spain, a group of people (27 accused in total) led by a St. Petersburg crime boss Gennady Petrov created a network of hundreds of companies for which they registered real estate. Through shell companies registered to the same people, they resold it at increasing prices. Law enforcement agencies became interested in the group, suspecting that with the help of this scheme they were laundering funds received in Russia from VAT refund scams and illegal banking transactions. The investigation is also confident that Petrov’s group hid at least 20 million euros from taxation.

Gennady Petrov was detained in 2008, but was later released on his own recognizance.
Soon he, like most of the defendants in the case, fled to Russia. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation has repeatedly refused to allow the Spanish investigation to search for suspects on its territory, and also demanded that the case be transferred to Russia and did not give the opportunity to interrogate high-ranking persons involved in the case.

The main accused was involved with friends Putin: Shamalov and Kovalchuk.

According to the biography Gennady Petrov , for a short time, from 1998 to 1999, he was a co-owner of Rossiya Bank. This bank was founded by old friends Vladimir Putin, Nikolai Shamalov And Yuri Kovalchuk and is still under their control. Both of them at one time participated in the creation cooperative "Ozero" , of which Putin himself was a member.

The list of defendants in the case includes a State Duma deputy, a former prime minister, a former State Duma speaker and a former defense minister.

As stated in the indictment, the deputy Vladislav Reznik

“responsible for carrying out the required and necessary actions, both legal and illegal, - trading in connections, confidential information, etc. at the highest levels of the Russian Federation, acting in the interests of Petrova and the organization subordinate to him. Vladislav Reznik is on good terms with Ilya Traber, leader of the Vyborg criminal group, as well as with (former Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation) Anatoly Serdyukov,

(former prime minister) Viktor Zubkov and (former speaker of the State Duma) Boris Gryzlov» . Spanish prosecutors believe that Reznik participated in fictitious transactions in Spain, which were part of a money laundering scheme.

Alexander Bastrykin owes his career to a criminal gang Petrova.
Spanish investigative prosecutors call " Sasha's promotion» ( Alexandra Bastrykina ) the main success of the group Petrova . They came to this conclusion based on conversations intercepted by the Spanish police. Petrova and other defendants in the case. June 28, 2007 Igor Sobolevsky (then a lawyer, later deputy chairman of the RF IC) said Petrov , What " Sasha” thanks him for his appointment to the position, plans to celebrate this and asks to invite the intermediary who helped organize the appointment to the celebration. Prosecutors do not know the name of the intermediary. Myself Sobolevsky thanks to Petrov and with the participation of the deputy Reznik , as follows from the case materials, was appointed deputy Bastrykina a year later, in 2008.

Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Alexander Bastrykin.

The current deputy chairman of the Federal Drug Control Service in the past received monetary rewards from the leader of a criminal group.

General , currently holding the post of deputy chairman of the Federal Drug Control Service, and in 2006–2008 worked as the head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for the Central Federal District,

in a year and a half I called 78 times Gennady Petrov . As stated in the indictment, “it makes sense to note people’s actions Aulova made upon request Petrova, namely the detention of several police officers due to the fact that they acted against the interests of a person from the environment Petrova. Also, using its connections at the local and federal levels, it provides support and facilitates the issuance of licenses and other types of permits for personal and business interests Petrova and his surroundings. received monetary compensation from Petrova».

Putin - “Tsar”

The Spanish investigation believes that Aulov helped through a certain high-ranking intermediary Petrov deal with competitors in a criminal environment. So, from a conversation dated July 2, 2007 between Petrov and a State Duma deputy of the second convocation Mikhail Glushchenko (sentenced in 2015 to 17 years in prison for organizing a murder Galina Starovoitova ) it is obvious that to solve the problem of the “armless”

(that's what they called Vladimir Barsukov (Kumarin) , one of the competitors Petrova for control over gangster Petersburg), Glushchenko offered to talk to "Kolei", that is Aulov. Coumarin was arrested just a month and a half later, and in a conversation with his accomplice the next day Petrov reported that he “was detained by order of the “Tsar””. The investigation believes that the accused called “Tsar” Vladimir Putin .

Former State Duma deputy died shortly after giving testimony that mentioned Putin

Antique dealer Mikhail Monastyrsky , a former State Duma deputy, during interrogation spoke about connections between St. Petersburg criminal communities, in particular the Tambov group, and the KGB-FSB. In particular, he said: “Their (St. Petersburg bandits) influence will end when Putin ceases to hold the post of president”. Soon after testifying, Monastyrsky died; his death was ruled an accident.

The wiretapping was carried out by decision of the Spanish court by the Guardia Civil in 2007-2008.

Acting and mentioned persons:

Petrov - Gennadios (Gennady) Vasilyevich Petrov, leader of a criminal group.

Anton - Anton Gennadievich Petrov, son of Gennadios (Gennady) Petrov.

Khristoforov - Leonid Vitalievich Khristoforov, member of a criminal group.

Glory - Vladislav Matusovich Reznik, State Duma deputy from 1999 to the present, member of the United Russia party, very close friend of Petrov.

Igor - Igor Borisovich Sobolevsky, in 2007 - head of the Main Operations Support Directorate (GUOD) of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, later - deputy head of the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office, dismissed “at his own request” in 2009.

Sasha - Alexander Ivanovich Bastrykin, in 2007-2011 - head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, from 2011 to the present - head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation.

Kolya, Nikolaevich - Nikolai Nikolaevich Aulov, in 2007-2008, head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for the Central Federal District, since 2008 - deputy director of the Federal Drug Control Service.

Reiman - Leonid Dodojonovich Reiman, Minister of Information Technologies and Communications of the Russian Federation in 2004-2008, then Advisor to the President (until 2010).

Tolik - Anatoly Eduardovich Serdyukov, Russian Minister of Defense in 2007-2012.

Dima - Dmitry Nikolaevich Kozak, in 2007 - Minister of Regional Development of the Russian Federation, since October 2008 - Deputy Prime Minister.

The case of the Russian mafia: “Tolik”, “Sasha”, “Tsar”

Case No. 321/2006, known as the “Russian mafia in Spain” case, was transferred to the criminal division of the Spanish National Court in Madrid. “The group is integrated into Russian police institutions,” the indictment says. The New Times read the indictment, spoke with the investigating prosecutor and found out the details and prospects of the criminal case

Investigative prosecutor of the Special Prosecutor's Office of Spain for the fight against corruption and organized crime Jose Grinda , inviting him into the office, jokes that he could be fired for an interview on this case.

We met at the end of September: at that moment the text of the indictment had not yet been completed. Grinda in an interview he complained that Russian law enforcement agencies were not very keen to help their Spanish colleagues. “Cooperation with Russian law enforcement agencies has had varying degrees of success”, he carefully formulates. Russian colleagues were unable to establish the whereabouts of the defendants in the case who had fled to Russia, did not initiate cases of corruption based on information transmitted from Spain, did not give the opportunity to interrogate high-ranking defendants as witnesses, and demanded that the investigation in Spain be stopped and the criminal case transferred to Russia. The last such request came from Russia on December 31, 2013, says Grinda : General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation, referring to Strasbourg Convention 1972 on the transfer of criminal cases, argued that it would be able to better conduct investigations against Russian citizens, and if they were convicted, ensure their social rehabilitation. But on September 18, 2015, a judge of the National Court of Spain Jose de la Mata finally refused to the Russian Prosecutor General's Office. And he pointed out the facts of corruption of the investigative bodies of Russia that were revealed during the investigation. The data was obtained as a result of the phones Gennady Petrov and other main defendants in the case were put under wiretapping in 2006.

Gennady Petrov, Leningrader, born in 1947. He was convicted several times, was released in 1987 and joined the Malyshev group. In the 1990s, he became one of the largest St. Petersburg “reputable businessmen”, combining business and crime. In 1998–1999, he was one of the co-owners of the famous Rossiya Bank. Together with Malyshev, he started a business in Spain in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

The indictment in case No. 321/2006 (the case of the so-called Operation Troika, has been under investigation for 9 years - NT) was transferred to station No. 5 of the criminal chamber of the National Court of Spain on October 19 of this year. The prosecutor's office demanded 8 years for the main accused Gennady Petrov , 6.5 years for his wife Elena Petrova and 5.5 years in prison for the remaining defendants. Main accused Gennady Petrov - a person well known in St. Petersburg. In 1994, he was arrested following the no less famous Alexander Malyshev on suspicion of organizing a criminal community, racketeering, extortion, but the case soon fell apart.

Alexander Malyshev, a Leningrad resident, born in 1958, was twice convicted of murder under Soviet rule. In the late 1980s, he created his own organized crime group in St. Petersburg, with which the Tambov gang competed. In 1992 he was arrested, in 1995 he was sentenced to 2.5 years for illegal possession and carrying of weapons and was released because he had already served the entire term in a pre-trial detention center. As a result of numerous gang wars in the 1990s, he lost most of his influence in St. Petersburg and moved to Spain, where he continued to engage in criminal business. In 2008, during Operation Troika, he was arrested by the Spanish police and released on bail in 2010. For five years he lived under house arrest in his home in Malaga. In the spring of 2015 he returned to Russia.

Petrov was released from custody before trial without charge.

St. Petersburg circle

Recall: investigative prosecutors Jose Grinda And Juan Carrau found that Gennady Petrov, Alexander Malyshev, Leonid Khristoforov, Sergey Kuzmin, Ilya Traber, Viktor Gavrilenkov (all except Malysheva , hiding from Spanish justice) and other figures , having settled in Spain back in the mid-1990s, they created a network of hundreds of companies in the country for which they registered real estate. And then they repeatedly resold it at increasing prices through shell companies controlled by the same people. That is, according to prosecutors, sold to themselves for the purpose of money laundering. This happened in the provinces Alicante, Barcelona, ​​Malaga and on Mallorca. Having passed through Spain , the laundered money was sent to Panama And Liechtenstein . Spanish investigative authorities believe that money from drug smuggling, arms trafficking and “trafficking in connections” was laundered in this way; All defendants in the case are charged with creating a criminal community in Spain. In total, the list of accused included in "organization of Gennady Petrov" , 27 people, including Spanish citizens, employees of shell companies, and Russians, including a State Duma deputy Vladislav Reznikand his wife. Prosecutors demand a fine of €100 million from each. Vladislav Reznik “responsible for carrying out the required and necessary actions, both legal and illegal - trading in connections, confidential information, etc. at the highest levels of the Russian Federation, acting in the interests of Petrov and the organization subordinate to him. Vladislav Reznik is on good terms with Ilya Traber, the leader of the Vyborg criminal group, as well as with (former Russian Defense Minister) Anatoly Serdyukov, (former Russian Prime Minister) Viktor Zubkov and (former State Duma Speaker) Boris Gryzlov.”, says the indictment.

NT MP Reznik could not be reached for comment. In 2008, he said in an interview with MK: “I don’t know Malyshev, I know Petrov. I have never engaged in any illegal activities.". In June 2015, the deputy noted in an interview with Bloomberg that he was ready to come to Spain to protect his reputation if the trial took place. Meanwhile, Spanish prosecutors established that the State Duma deputy Vladislav Reznik - the only representative of the Russian authorities who became directly accused - used the same plane and yacht berth in Spain with Gennady Petrov , as well as on assignment Petrova participated, according to prosecutors, in fictitious transactions in Spain that served to launder funds. Spaniards' request for interrogation Reznik in Russia was not satisfied with the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation. Gennady Petrov And Alexandra Malyshev and back in June 2008 they were arrested in their houses on Mallorca and in Malaga as part of a joint operation between the prosecutor's office and the Spanish gendarmerie (Guardia civil) - "Troika". After spending a year and a half under arrest, Petrov was released on his own recognizance, and then went to his homeland, St. Petersburg, on authorized leave for health reasons and never returned. Spanish prosecutors believe that Petrov stayed in Russia not of his own free will: on the eve of the trip, he seemed to be preparing to sign an agreement with the Spanish authorities that he would admit the charges brought against him, agree to a fine and confiscation of property in Spain, and leave the country without the right to subsequent entry. That is, he was not threatened with prison in any case, says Grinda. Petrov True, he bargained: he wanted the charge of organizing a criminal community to be dropped against him, but then he gave up and left for Russia. The agreement was never signed and Petrov goes through the graph "fugitive from Spanish justice". son Gennady Petrov also considered accused. U Anton Petrov Dozens of companies operate in St. Petersburg, he is the co-founder of the largest jewelry company “585”, according to business media in the Northern capital, his fortune at the end of 2014 reached 6 billion rubles. Back on May 29, 2015, the prosecutor Jose Grinda asked the judge Jose de la Mata sanction for announcement Anton And Gennady Petrovykh on the international wanted list "after clarifying their location", however, this has not yet been done.

Interview

From an interview with José Grinda, investigative prosecutor of the Spanish Special Prosecutor's Office for the Fight against Corruption and Organized Crime:

Will Petrov be tried?

Mr. Petrov is in Russia and is considered to have escaped from Spanish justice. He is in the same situation as Vladislav Reznik: he will not be tried in absentia because the sentence requested by the prosecutor’s office is too long. In Spain, trials in absentia are allowed only in cases where the requested sentence does not exceed 2 years in prison, and the prosecutor's office requested 5.5 years in prison for Reznik, 8 years for Petrov.

Will any of the accused end up in prison?

It’s difficult to say, but it will be difficult for them to leave Russia.

The classic sign of the mafia is the connection between crime and the state. Is it possible to talk about this in this case?

The Spanish prosecutor's office presented a report showing that Petrov had connections in the economic sphere, in the criminal environment and in the political sphere. And these three groups of connections allowed Petrov to become legalized and live quite peacefully. Connections with oligarchs allowed him to become rich, connections with the criminal world allowed him to settle down and live so that no one would touch his wealth, and connections with politicians and officials allowed him to have a decent reputation. This is a very interesting relationship. Russian law enforcement, whose task is to investigate these connections, in fact, contrary to their task, are engaged in cleaning up his reputation.

Trading connections

The investigation revealed that the main suspect Gennady Petrov maintained direct relations with: - with Anatoly Serdyukov , who at the time of the wiretaps (late 2006 - 2008) served as head of the Federal Tax Service, and then as Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation; - With Viktor Zubkov , Prime Minister of the Russian Federation in 2007–2008, and before that - the head of the country's financial intelligence - Rosfinmonitoring, Deputy Minister of Finance, Deputy Minister of Taxes and Duties, and even earlier - former deputy Vladimir Putin in the Committee for External Relations of the St. Petersburg City Hall. Zubkov “lobbied for the interests of the group in Russia”, being the Prime Minister and First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, it is stated on page 27 of the indictment of the Spanish prosecutor’s office (available to the editors. - NT), accepting "a series of political decisions"(what kind of decisions are not specified); - with the Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Alexander Bastrykin ; - with the Deputy Director of the Federal Drug Control Service, Colonel General Nikolay Aulov ; - with the former Minister of Communications Leonid Reiman (he was, together with Petrov, a co-owner of the company Caspian Petr RE, Llc.); - as well as with the former deputy chairman of the RF IC Igor Sobolevsky.

, born in 1952, in the Leningrad police since 1983, considered one of the founders of the St. Petersburg RUBOP, in the 1980–1990s he was closely involved with the “Malyshevites” and “Tambovites”, in 1999 he was wounded by a sniper, after recovery he was transferred to Moscow , one of the co-authors of the epic “Gangster Petersburg”. Since 2011, Colonel General of Police.

Igor Sobolevsky, born in 1952, studied at the Faculty of Law of Leningrad State University together with V.V. Putin and A.I. Bastrykin, in the late 1980s he was a lawyer in the St. Petersburg government structures (city committee, executive committee, Lensovet), in 1999-2000 he was the vice-governor of St. Petersburg, and later practiced law.

What did the Spanish prosecutors mean when they argued in their indictment that “the group is integrated into Russian police institutions”? According to the Spaniards, the main success of Petrov’s group was the promotion "Sashi"(referring to the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin. - NT). This is the conclusion of the investigative prosecutors Jose Grinda And Juan Carrau made on the basis of several wiretapped conversations. So, June 28, 2007 Igor Sobolevsky , then still working as a lawyer in St. Petersburg, called Gennady Petrov . According to the transcript, he said that "Sasha" (that is, Bastrykin, clarified on page 29 of the indictment. - NT) is going to celebrate his appointment to the position, thanks in every possible way for this Petrova and asks to invite the intermediary who helped organize this appointment to the holiday. The name of the intermediary is unknown. himself Sobolevsky Soon he was appointed to the post of Deputy Chairman of the RF Investigative Committee. True, this required a year-long effort. As evidenced by transcripts of wiretaps Petrova dated July 3, 2007, the same State Duma deputy took over the employment of the lawyer Vladislav Reznik. Moreover, according to the wiretap, for the post of deputy chairman of the Investigative Committee, which Petrov predicted Sobolevsky , there were three candidates, but Petrov promised Sobolevsky that he will receive this position. July 3, 2007 at 18.41 Petrov calls Sobolevsky and reports that “Slava called him yesterday(Reznik. - NT) and said that he had already talked to his friend and that he was one hundred percent sure that the appointment had been approved and that it was only a matter of time.”. But Igor wants to know why they are delaying his appointment for so long. Petrov says that “in the worst case, he will personally talk to the right people when he is in Russia”. June 10, 2008 Sobolevsky was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Investigative Committee Alexandra Bastrykina , but he only served in office for a year: the Spaniards published wiretapping data, and he was dismissed from his post by decision of the then president Medvedev dated June 1, 2009. Almost simultaneously with Bastrykin - in June 2008, the new chairman of the Federal Drug Control Service received a new deputy Victor Ivanov (formerly the chief personnel officer of the Kremlin. - NT). He became a police lieutenant general , which Jose Grinda And Juan Carrau considered closely associated with the group Petrova . At a time when the Spaniards were tapping the phone Petrova and his colleagues, Aulov served as head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for the Central Federal District, where he was appointed by presidential decree Putin in November 2006.

For two years of operations to control telephone conversations - from the end of 2006 to April 2008 - General Aulov communicated with 78 times Gennady Petrov by phone, of which 74 times Aulov was the initiator of the call, and he was also mentioned in other calls from group members. “It makes sense to note the actions of Aulov’s people, carried out at the request of Petrov, namely: the detention of several police officers due to the fact that they acted against the interests of a person from Petrov’s circle. Also, Nikolay Aulov, using his connections at the local and federal levels, provides support and facilitates the issuance of licenses and other types of permits in the personal and business interests of Petrov and his circle. Nikolai Aulov received monetary compensation from Petrov", - says on pages 58–59 of the indictment. Let's decipher: Spanish prosecutors believe that Aulov, through an unknown high-ranking official in Moscow, helped organize the arrests of people disliked by Petrov and, in particular, the leader of the Tambov organized crime group Vladimir Barsukov (Kumarin), who in the 1990s was called the “night governor” and “black governor” of St. -Petersburg. For example, in Petrov’s conversation with State Duma deputy of the second convocation Mikhail Glushchenko (he was arrested in Russia in 2009 and in 2015 sentenced to 17 years in prison for organizing the murder of Galina Starovoitova. - NT) on July 2, 2007, Glushchenko tells Petrov that you need to meet with “Kolya” (Nikolai Aulov) to solve the “armless” problem. Prosecutor Grinda believes that this meant Vladimir Barsukov (Kumarin), who lost his arm in an assassination attempt in 1994. He was one of Petrov's main competitors in the matter of control over gangster Petersburg. Kumarin was arrested in August 2007. And on August 26, immediately after this arrest, in a conversation between Leonid Khristoforov (according to the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation, presented to the Spanish prosecutor’s office, “Petrov’s accomplice” and one of the leaders of the “Malyshevskaya organized crime group”) and Gennady Petrov, the latter said that “Kumarin was detained by order "Tsar". The investigation believes that the accomplices called Vladimir Putin “Tsar”.

Here are some more examples of conversations with the participation of Nikolai Aulov. For example, on September 15, 2007, Aulov called Petrov twice with a report: he sent several “trusted guys” to have a “very serious conversation” with “outcasts” and “garbage” who want to harm Petrov. On November 9, 2007, Khristoforov called Petrov to remind him to call his friend and congratulate him on receiving a new star (we are talking about Aulov’s promotion to the rank - he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general). On March 6, 2008, Petrov, in a conversation with Leonid Khristoforov, says that he is waiting for the papers that Nikolai Nikolaevich (Aulov) is preparing, so that he can then talk with the head of customs so that they do not have problems at the port, because there is now a new head, and adds that There were no problems with other management before (page 65 of the indictment). Let us emphasize: now Colonel General Aulov is the current deputy director of the Federal Drug Control Service. Aulov’s role “allows us to conclude that Petrov’s group is clearly integrated into Russian police institutions,” the Spanish prosecutor’s office said in its indictment. The New Times sent a request for comment to the FSKN press service, as well as directly to General Aulov, but received no response. Promotion of "Tolik" The nomination of Dmitry Medvedev as a candidate for the post of President of Russia - on December 10, 2007 - occurred in the midst of the "Spanish wiretaps." On this day, Nikolai Aulov called Petrov to find out if he was in the know. Petrov replied that the news was somewhat unexpected, but everything was in order, in particular, “Tolik” (the speech, according to Jose Grinda and Juan Carrau, is about Anatoly Serdyukov, at that time the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation) will now remain in his place, and with another candidate he would have had to leave. (“The other candidate,” as is known, was Sergei Ivanov, whom Serdyukov replaced in the main office of the Ministry of Defense in February 2007. - NT.) On December 20, 2007, Gennady Petrov’s son Anton reports to his father that he “called the First” ( we are talking about Serdyukov), taking advantage of the fact that he is in Moscow, since “Slava” (Vladislav Reznik) asked to give him one letter on his behalf.”

Prosecutor Grinda, in an interview with an NT correspondent, noted: “As is known, Serdyukov himself was recently investigated in Russia. A case of corruption has come to light. (On December 6, 2013, the RF Investigative Committee charged Serdyukov under Article 293, Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - negligence resulting in major damage. - NT.) But we knew about his corruption connections already in 2008 and constantly passed this information on to the prosecutor’s office Russia." Grinda regrets that this information was not used in Russia. At the end of October 2015, the media reported that the former Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Serdyukov (the investigation into his case was discontinued in February 2014, since he was eligible for amnesty as a “defender of the Fatherland”) took a high position in the Rostec state corporation - he became the curator of aviation assets with revenue of about 350 billion rubles. in year.

Roof

Spanish investigators spent a lot of effort to understand the degree of closeness of certain officials mentioned in wiretaps to figures of the Russian mafia in Spain. This is what Prosecutor Grinda says: “There is a whole gradation of these connections with Gennady Petrov and his criminal group. Bastrykin’s are weak, Nikolai Aulov’s are average, Serdyukov’s are also average, and with Reznik they are simply very close.” “As for Vladislav Reznik, we consider him part of Petrov’s organization, since he occupies an important place in the hierarchy. As for others, we believe that Petrov uses them, corrupts them, in order to gain access to the echelons of power. This is the main reason why we here in Spain blame Reznik and do not blame other people. Because the fact of corruption occurs in Russia and should be investigated in Russia.". Besides, “the inaction of the Russian authorities regarding Aulov and Sobolevsky may lead to separate cases against them in Spain in accordance with the provisions of the UN Convention against Corruption and Transnational Crime”, says the report that Spanish prosecutors submitted to the court in May 2015 (the pre-indictment report, a kind of extended summary of the criminal case, is also available to the NT). “As you know, Serdyukov himself was recently investigated in Russia. A case of corruption has come to light. We knew about his corrupt connections already in 2008 and constantly passed this information on to the Russian prosecutor’s office.”

The weakness of the Spanish investigation is that by the time the wiretaps are carried out “connections between criminal authorities and Russian officials have already been established, and we cannot explain where they came from”, says Jose Grinda, once again insisting on "investigation in Russia". Let's try to fill the gap. All of Gennady Petrov’s acquaintances in power, who are mentioned in the indictment of the Spanish prosecutor’s office, were born, studied or made a career in St. Petersburg. Two of the security officials mentioned in the case, who are considered Petrov’s connections, went through the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Central Federal District: Nikolai Aulov and Alexander Bastrykin. Former deputy head of the Investigative Committee Igor Sobolevsky and Alexander Bastrykin are classmates of Vladimir Putin at the Faculty of Law of Leningrad State University. Viktor Zubkov in 1991–1993 was deputy chairman of the Committee on External Relations of the St. Petersburg City Hall, which was headed by Vladimir Putin. Anatoly Serdyukov became the son-in-law of Viktor Zubkov in 2000, made a career in the tax department, and then in the Ministry of Defense. Witnesses questioned by Spanish prosecutors also pointed to the role of the KGB-FSB in the organization of various St. Petersburg criminal communities, in particular the Tambov criminal group. Mikhail Monastyrsky, a well-known in narrow circles, late antiquarian and former State Duma deputy, spoke about this during an interrogation on March 9, 2007 (excerpts are available to NT). "Their(St. Petersburg bandits - NT) influence will end when Putin ceases to hold the presidency,”- said Monastyrsky. He died shortly after testifying and his death was ruled an accident. Spanish journalist Pablo Muñoz, familiar with the materials of the Spanish investigation and author of the book "The Word of a Thief: Russian Mafia in Spain" (2010), names Petrov, like Kumarin, "cooperating with the KGB-FSB" since Soviet times. However, Spanish prosecutors can neither confirm nor refute these rumors, since “ The Russian prosecutor's office does not confirm this data...", says Jose Grinda.