On Wednesday, March 6, the Basmanny District Court of Moscow arrested high-ranking police officers – colonels of the Ministry of Internal Affairs – for two months. Alexandra Karaseva And Rafael Karagyozyan. Both of them are accused of murder, which was committed 15 years ago by a group of people for mercenary reasons (clauses “g”, “h”, part 2 of article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country)).
Our colleagues from NGS55.RU told us what is known about high-ranking security officials suspected of murder. And also about the crime boss from the 90s, Oleg Spiridonov, who could testify against them.
Body found in garages
In the fall of 2009, the body of the 51-year-old general director of the ZhBK Trading House company was found on the territory of the Polet-28 garage cooperative, located across the road from the Omsk Arena. Sergei Vostryakov. Traces of beatings were visible on the businessman’s body, and later forensic experts found traces of strangulation on him. Law enforcement officers knew that that evening the entrepreneur was meeting with his friend. Who this person was was not publicly reported. Sergei Vostryakov’s business developed successfully. In 2008, he decided to build a factory for the production of facing bricks in the Maryanovsky district. As Kommersant reported, the entrepreneur was going to invest 300 million rubles in the purchase of equipment alone and recoup the investment in three years, producing up to 50 million bricks per year.
To do this, the businessman rented a plot of land in the Maryanovsky district with an area of 166 hectares. He planned to begin construction of the plant in the spring of 2009, but the crisis interfered with his plans. And in the fall of the same year, Vostryakov was killed. The news about the death of the businessman was quickly forgotten – nothing was reported about the progress of the investigation of the case for 15 years.
Thunder struck late in the evening of March 6, when it became known about the arrest of two high-ranking security officials – Rafael Karagyozyan and Alexander Karasev. The media immediately trumpeted that the police were suspected of murdering that same Vostryakov.
Two policemen
Rafael Karagyozyan came to serve in the internal affairs bodies in 1993 – after graduating from the Omsk Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In an interview published on the website of the Shegarsky district of the Tomsk region, the policeman said that immediately after college he ended up in the criminal investigation department of the Omsk Department of Internal Affairs – at that time he was one of the youngest employees. Then Karagyozyan served in other operational units of the Omsk police – the department for combat with organized crime and the department for solving contract killings. In 2013, he accepted an offer to head the territorial police department in Buryatia, where at that time there was a rather criminal situation.
In December 2014, the lieutenant colonel received the post of head of the police department in the Shegarsky district of the Tomsk region. Karagyozyan worked in this status for a little over a year, and in February 2016 he headed the police department No. 3 of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for the city of Tomsk. At the same time he was awarded the rank of police colonel.
For many years, the domain of Alexander Karasev was the regional department of economic security and anti-corruption. Back in the first half of the 2000s, he worked in this department as deputy head of the department for undermining the economic foundations of organized crime groups and told journalists how, together with his subordinates, he caught scammers who fooled gullible citizens with a “win-win” lottery.
Then Karasev headed the OBEP, and in 2017 he was promoted to Moscow. After his departure, Rafael Karagyozyan was assigned to monitor economic crimes in Omsk. But he soon moved to the capital, where he was offered a position as an adjunct at the department of the center for command and staff exercises at the Academy of Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism).
Who ratted out the police?
Omsk crime boss Oleg Spiridonov told the security forces about the crime allegedly committed by Omsk police 15 years ago. According to the journalist Vitaly Gannashchuk, in the 90s, his group clandestinely sold vodka, and in Barnaul traded in the resale of stolen cars, as well as racketeering. Police lawyer Murad Musaev (he defended those accused of the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, and also represented in court the interests of one of the members of the Krasnodar Tsapki gang) believes that Oleg Spiridonov decided to accuse the police of the murder of Sergei Vostryakov for the sake of revenge.
— This murder, according to Spiridonov, was committed by Karasev and Karagyozyan. That is, those who detained him. To the question: “How do you know this?” – he answers: “Yes, I sat in the car and watched the murder of Vostryakov at his request. And then he stood and watched from the sidelines as he was killed.” But at the same time he did not interfere with what was happening, did not call the ambulance or the police. And for many years he was silent about it. He calls on some of his friends to help him, whose names are classified in the case,” the lawyer told MSK1.RU.
According to Murad Musaev, there is nothing significant in the resolution, except for three interrogation reports – of Spiridonov and his two friends.
– Karasev says that Spiridonov, from the moment he and Karagyozyan detained him, swears and promises to take revenge on them. And he found a way to get even with them in this way. It is noteworthy that Vostryakov was killed by strangulation. One of the killers held him by the legs, and the other was strangling him at that time,” Musaev added. — The paradox is that Suprun, whom Spiridonov killed, was killed exactly the same way.
Let us note that this is not the first time Oleg Spiridonov has made such loud statements. According to BK55, in 2015, while serving a sentence for murder and arson, Oleg Spiridonov accused former vice-governor Yuri Hamburg of murdering the leader of the organized crime group Sirota. Then Spiridonov claimed that the crime happened before his eyes in 1998. Yuri Hamburg himself at that time was already in a pre-trial detention center on charges of fraud with land plots.
The victim was the father of the detective. The Omsk resident “killed” by Karasev was found near the police school
There are many articles on this topic, but I will add a few lines taking into account the fact that I have at my disposal excerpts from the materials of the criminal case. The criminal case number is 12202007703000024. The criminal case was opened by investigator Viktor Kvasha. The crime happened on October 30, 2009. According to the current version of the investigation, the qualified murder occurred due to an outstanding debt. Police officers Alexander Karasev and Rafael Karagyozyan summoned Sergei Vostryakov to a meeting, who had once lent them at least 6 million rubles. It’s like now about 16 million rubles. The meeting was scheduled for late evening, but did not cause Vostryakov much concern. The Omsk residents met near the Argo restaurant, a few steps away from them there was a police school, and the status of Vostryakov’s interlocutors also aroused trust. Subsequently, however, the Omsk residents drove Karagezyan’s Lexus RX-330 towards the garages and stopped on the territory of the Polet-28 GSK. That is, it is uncritically far from the police school, but it seems that no one else saw the three Omsk residents at the GSK, which greatly simplified the murder procedure. There, the police knocked the lender off his feet with punches, finished him off with their feet, and subsequently strangled him with a noose made of an unidentified material. The description of the injuries on Vostryakov’s body took up about half a page.
The rule of law is part 2 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country); alleged murderers from law enforcement agencies face, among other things, life imprisonment, but the punishment will probably be more lenient.
A competent source from the commercial environment reports: the victim in Omsk was the father of the detective. Most likely, along with numerous other factors, this circumstance became another reason for the emergence of trust between the killers and Vostryakov.
There is another interesting nuance. It is possible that the crime of 15 years ago was helped to reveal the authority of Spiridon, who began to testify and handed over former high-ranking employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs when the threat to his safety disappeared. Please note – Spiridon left the colony in 2022. Another interesting aspect is that shortly after the murder of Vostryakov, in December 2009, Spiridon and another member of the criminal group strangled businessman Yuri Suprun in a very similar way, using a noose. Previously, the crime boss handed over Yuri Hamburg: according to the convict’s version, the future vice-governor killed the Omsk boss Sirota. The information was confirmed by a polygraph, but law enforcement agencies did not confirm the guilt of the future official.
The wet case of Oleg Spiridonov. Suprun was strangled with a wrestling belt, his body was thrown into an ice hole in the Irtysh River
MSK1.RU correspondent Vera Borisova has collected everything that is known about the criminal case against two anti-corruption fighters and how the head of a well-known criminal group from Omsk, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison, is connected to this.
They made noise and burned alive
Oleg Spiridonov (Spiridon)It all started with the fact that at the end of 2007, the deputy director of 21st Century LLC. New technologies” Sergei Gordeev turned to his friend, 51-year-old lawyer and part-time local crime boss Oleg Spiridonov, with a request to set fire to the Golden Rock cafe for 100,000 rubles. The establishment was located near the businessman’s home. Parties were constantly taking place there, and Sergei Gordeev was disturbed by loud music and noise in the evenings. He appealed to the management of the Golden Rock to be a little quieter, but they did not make concessions. Oleg Spiridonov agreed to set fire to the cafe and found three young people to play the role of performers – 24-year-old furniture assembler Mikhail Levkin, 26-year-old unemployed Pavel Kirillov and Dmitry Safonov . On the morning of February 23, 2008, Safonov brought Kirillov and Levkin to the cafe building, who went into the hall, poured two cans of gasoline on the floor and set it on fire with signal torches. The fire quickly engulfed the building. Where Safonov was at this time, history is silent.
As a result, four cafe workers sleeping in the back room died. One person received severe burns, while seven others managed to escape the fire. Material damage amounted to more than 8 million rubles.
Rafael Karagyozyan and Alexander Karasev were involved in the investigation of this criminal case. At different times, they headed the department for combating economic crimes of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Omsk region: Karagyozyan replaced Karasev in this post, who left for Moscow. Later, Karagyozyan was appointed head of one of the police departments in Tomsk, served at the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where he was an adjunct of the Department of Internal Affairs Management in the special conditions of the command post exercise center.
Neutralized a businessman
A year later, Spiridonov, who gave the order to his accomplices to burn down the cafe, again came to the attention of the security forces. Investigators found that on December 13, 2009, he, together with 30-year-old master of sports Sergei Aslybaev, killed the director of Tarsky Les LLC and co-founder of JSC Troya de Luxe, Yuri Suprun. A professional killer, as he was nicknamed in gangster circles, Oleg Spiridonov, together with his accomplice Aslybaev, lured a major Omsk businessman, Yuri Suprun, to a deserted place, namely to the Zarya-3 gardening partnership. There, a conflict arose between them because one of them owed money.
Spiridonov attacked the businessman and began beating him, after which Aslybaev joined the crime boss. As a result, the two of them strangled Yuri Suprun with a wrestling belt, and threw his body into an ice hole in the Irtysh River. The businessman’s body was found only 4.5 months later.
Oleg Spiridonov’s wife, founder of the Korona pharmacy chain Olga Spiridonova, said that on December 20, 2009, a search took place in their five-room apartment with three balconies, which was located in the city center.
“Since our apartment is very large and the search could take a long time, I suggested that the operatives take off their outer clothing, but one of them refused and continued to walk around the house in a down jacket. After examining the house, the guys said that everything was clean and that they had not found anything illegal. Suddenly the guy who was wearing the jacket went out onto the balcony again and this time brought two live grenades from there. I was shocked and began to be indignant at why he planted these grenades on us. I took them in my hands – they turned out to be warm, which was confirmed by one of the witnesses, although, according to operatives, the grenades lay for a long time on the balcony in the cold, Oleg Spiridonov’s wife said at the trial.
According to Olga Spiridonova, her husband is not guilty of the murder of businessman Sergei Suprun. As she said, the entrepreneur was the first to point a gun at Oleg. And Asylbaev “simply neutralized him, protecting his life” and her husband.
For committing crimes, the Omsk Regional Court sentenced Oleg Spiridonov to 16 years, Sergei Alsylbaev to 10 years, Pavel Kirillov to 15 years, Mikhail Levkin to 11 years in prison in a maximum security colony. Sergei Gordeev and Dmitry Safonov were sentenced to 3 years and 4 months and 2 years of imprisonment, respectively, to be served in a penal colony.
In addition, according to the court decision, more than 8 million rubles were recovered from the convicts as compensation for the damage caused by the arson of the cafe, as well as 2 million rubles as compensation for moral damage to the relatives of the victims.
Later it turned out that Oleg Spiridonov actively collaborated with the security forces. The criminal authority wrote a letter addressed to the head of the FSB Directorate for the Omsk Region, Igor Bondarev (who later became the Vice-Governor of the Omsk Region) and the prosecutor Anastas Spiridonov dated July 2010.
In it, the “killer” Spiridonov, who at that time was in a pre-trial detention center on charges of arson at the Golden Rock cafe and the murder of businessman Sergei Suprun, asked to bring the head of the criminal investigation department and his deputy to criminal responsibility.
“He and his deputy met with me several times during the investigation in order to obtain operational information on other crimes,” the letter said.
In the letter, Spiridonov said that the security forces offered him 6 million to change his procedural status from being accused of arson at the Golden Rock cafe to becoming a witness. Well, he allegedly refused to pay, not having that amount, and ended up getting 16 years as a planner.
Spiridonov’s letter“World” of anonymous junkies by Gennady Spiridonov. How the son of a crime boss makes money. A drug rehabilitation business was closed in Omsk, but it operates in Moscow
The Omsk prosecutor’s office opened a case of illegal deprivation of liberty of citizens with alcohol and drug addiction being treated at the ANO “Innovative Center for Rehabilitation and Narcology “Mir”. One of the founders of the ANO, a former drug addict and the son of a famous Omsk crime boss, was taken into custody.
The innovation of rehabilitation methods consisted of forcibly detaining people within the walls of the institution, preventing communication with relatives and regular beatings for various offenses. The cost of such innovative “treatment” at the center ranged from 10 to 35 thousand rubles per month. At the same time, the relatives actually paid only for the accommodation of the dependents, because they were not provided with any medical care due to the organization’s banal lack of a medical license.
The co-founder of the ill-fated Mir center, Gennady Spiridonov, knows firsthand what drugs are. He himself went through a thorny path from drug addiction to becoming a respected member of society. All this is thanks to the so-called NA (Narcotics Anonymous) movement and its 12 Step recovery program. Spiridonov also had a rehabilitation center in his life, where Gennady became familiar with the topic and the system in detail.
It’s hereditary
Gennady Spiridonov (right), in his hand he has the NA sign – “Narcotics Anonymous”But where did the former drug addict get the money to create an autonomous non-profit organization? Most likely, it could not have happened without sponsorship and the necessary connections. And, quite possibly, help could come from his father – Oleg Spiridonov, about whom the Omsk media wrote a lot earlier as an authoritative entrepreneur. “This entrepreneur” is a well-known crime boss in Omsk, nicknamed Spiridon (father of Gennady Spiridonov, according to Life), terrorized the Siberian city throughout the dashing 90s. Since 2005, he has been serving a long sentence for attempted murder and arson of a cafe, which killed 4 people.
And in 2015, it suddenly became clear that Spiridon was also an accomplice in the high-profile murder in 1998 of the leader of one of the Omsk organized crime groups, Alexander Komarov, nicknamed Sirota. And Spiridonov’s accomplice then allegedly was the now former vice-governor of the Omsk region, Yuri Hamburg. It was he, according to Spiridonov Sr., who that day blew off Sirota’s head with shots from a double-barreled sawn-off shotgun.
In Moscow, as in Omsk
It becomes clear that Gennady Spiridonov could well have inherited from an odious relative not only the funds to create the center, but also a unique understanding of what helping drug addicts is. Beatings, detainment by force and other punishments in the Omsk rehabilitation center for the son of a criminal authority could be quite acceptable. And Spiridonov Jr. may have instilled this understanding in patients not only in Omsk, but also in Moscow. Together with another Omsk businessman, Ivan Krainov, who also treated drug addicts, he opened Psychological Development LLC in Lyubertsy in 2016. Omsk businessmen are also likely to earn something by exporting rehabilitation methods to the capital.
Back in 2018, bailiffs already visited the Mir rehabilitation center. Then they were looking for a native of Azerbaijan, Adalet Teymurov. Deprived of his license for driving while high, the drug addict was caught behind the wheel again and became accused in a criminal case under Article 264.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country) (violation of traffic rules by a person subject to administrative punishment). At that moment, he was under recognizance not to leave the place, but chose to hide from daily communication with the police within the walls of a rehabilitation center.
In addition to the unique methods of rehabilitation measures, Spiridonov’s reputation is given by a very careless attitude towards taxes.
The organization’s accumulated debts to the Federal Tax Service and city services became the reason for opening corresponding enforcement proceedings against the ANO, and at the end of last year it came to the appointment of an external manager and the actual liquidation of the organization. But the Moscow office also recently came under sanctions from the tax authorities. Probably, the business model is the same in both Omsk and Moscow.
Apparently, the arrest of Gennady Spiridonov this summer took place against the backdrop of the fact that Mir continued its activities even after official liquidation – without documents, licenses or tax reporting. This is supported by the fact that the organization’s website and its pages on social networks, contact information and the address of the center are available to any user even now.
