Could a well-known Kirov politician be involved in murder?
After a five-year break, businessman Dmitry Russkikh, who sat there for two convocations, returned to the Legislative Assembly of the Kirov Region. But if before that he was elected from the Communist Party, then last September he went through the lists of A Just Russia, whose faction he leads in the regional parliament, while formally remaining non-partisan. Earlier, Russkikh denounced the lobbying of the interests of big business that is widespread among his fellow deputies. At the same time, he himself is a co-owner and CEO of the multimillion-dollar company Vyatka-Coal, which received solid government contracts, but lost them after the Russians refused to participate in the 2016 regional elections. The businessman’s second term as a deputy was marked by a loud scandal related to his participation in the trial of crime boss Mikhail Prokopiev, the leader of one of the most famous Kirov organized crime groups, who was sentenced to life imprisonment. As it turned out, the deputy turned out to be not only an old acquaintance of Prokop: according to the authorities, he took part in criminal activities and was known in the criminal environment under the nickname “Kyrgyz”. The verdict handed down in March 1991 by the Kirov Regional Court in the case of members of a gang accused of kidnapping and murder Citizen Gershman. The data of one of the convicts completely coincided with the data of Dmitry Russkikh. No less interesting is the biography of the younger brother of parliamentarian Anton Russkikh, a former deputy of the Kursk City Duma, who at one time held the position of assistant to the infamous governor Nikita Belykh. The young politician Russkikh Jr. turned out to be convicted twice: the first time for trying, together with an accomplice, with threats, to “squeeze” an apartment from a woman who owed them money; the second – for the theft of 25 million rubles from the municipal budget. Governor Igor Vasiliev, who replaced Belykh, refused to renew the contract with such an odious assistant, after which Russkikh Jr. left politicians. But today, new prospects for lobbying the interests of their own business are opening up before Dmitry Russkikh, whom the criminal authority Prokop once called simply “Kyrgyz”.
Russians left to return
Member of the Kirov Legislative Assembly Dmitry Russkikh can rightfully be considered one of the “veterans” of the regional politicians. He was first elected to the regional parliament in 2006, then re-elected in 2011, and finally, after a break in one convocation, last September. True, the people’s choice had to go through some ideological transformation: if the first two deputy “terms” he advanced from CPRFthen today he leads the faction of the party in the Legislative Assembly “Fair Russia-Patriots-For Truth”. At the same time, formally Russians remain non-partisanwhich gives him freedom for further political “maneuvers”.
By the way, back in 2015 Russian told journalists about his disappointment with parliamentary work, complaining about the lack of discussion, lobbying and indifference of colleagues to the bills under consideration.
As a result, Russian announcedthat he plans to end his parliamentary career and does not intend to participate in the 2016 elections. And a few months later, in December 2015, during the plenary session, he asked to be included in the agenda question early resignation of their powers. That’s just the deputies by a majority of votes refused to sanction the resignation of a colleague. Apparently, they did not want to say goodbye to such an independent and ideological comrade.
However, Russkikh kept his promise, returning to the Legislative Assembly only in September last year: today he is a member of committees on social affairs; and on industry and infrastructure development. What suddenly made Dmitry Mikhailovich change his mind about parliamentary work? Has there really become more political freedom, and business structures have ceased to promote dependent candidates to legislative bodies?
Dmitry Russkikh – lobbyist “on his mind”?
We dare to suggest that the reason for the return of Dmitry Russkikh to politics much more prosaic and may be associated with the banal lobbying of commercial interests. Only not someone else’s, but their own. The fact is that back in 2005 he took the post CEO Kirov OOO Vyatka-SUEKlater renamed to LLC “Kuzbass coals”and then to today LLC “Company” Vyatka-Coal “specializing in the wholesale trade of various types of fuel.
It is noteworthy that the parliamentarian not only manages the enterprise, but is also one of its co-owners. To imagine the scale of the company’s work, let’s pay attention to its financial indicators available in public sources. So, according to the results of 2021, the profit of Vyatka-Ugol amounted to 30.1 million rubles with revenue in 372.9 million. A year earlier, revenue was declared in the amount of 336.2 millionand profit in 34.5 million rubles.
The company has a solid portfolio government contractsexceeding 521 million. The main customers were communal structures registered both in the regional center and in the provinces: OJSC Kommunenergo in Kirov, MUP Kumensky Thermal Systems, MUP Teploservice from Slobodsky, etc. That’s just according to data portal “Rusprofile”, the last contract received by Vyatka-Coal is dated April 2019. Further – as cut off. Isn’t this the next successful “campaign” of Dmitry Russkikh to power?
It turns out that a fighter against lobbying can act as a lobbyist himself. It is also possible that he plans to help his business partner, co-owner of Vyatka-Ugol Kamil Jamaludinov. Last belongse.g. security company “Belka-Safety”until 2016 received a number contracts from the Sloboda Technological College and the Sloboda Central District Hospital. But then the contracts became tight. By a strange coincidence, just in 2016, Russians did not enter the new composition of the regional Legislative Assembly.
By the way, the situation is similar with another enterprise of Jamaludinov – Fur farm “Vyatka”until March 2016 received contracts from the district hospital in Slobodskoy. After several years of work “in the red”, last year the fur farm declared a modest profit in 1 million rubles with a very solid income 157.2 million.
Witness in the case of Prokopyev’s organized criminal group
The previous term of Dmitry Russky’s deputy powers was marked by a loud scandal: he had to testify in a high-profile criminal case Mikhail Prokopiev – the leader of the organized crime group “Prokopovskie”, who rampaged in the region in the 1990s – early 2000s. Looking ahead, let’s say that Prokopiev (aka “Prokop”) in December 2016 was sentenced to life imprisonment: the Kirov Regional Court found him guilty of organizing a criminal community, eight murders, three attempts on murderand illicit trafficking in arms and ammunition.
As it turned out, testimony in the “case of the” Prokopovsky “Russians gave even during the investigation, and in the case he was listed as a secret witness and appeared under the name “Petrov”. But the deputy could not appear in court, officially – due to being on a business trip. The petition of the state prosecution to read out the testimony of the witness met with a protest from the defense and the main defendant:
It turns out that a respectable businessman, a people’s choice, in the 90s could “nightmare” Kirov entrepreneurs as part of one of the organized crime groups, in which he was known as “Kyrgyz”? Perhaps that is why Russkikh avoided appearing in the courtroom in every possible way? The media voiced opinionthat the deputy tritely “surrendered the gang”.
Nevertheless, the former parliamentarian had to testify in court at that time. Appearing, he told about his acquaintance with Prokopiev in the late 80s, about the Kirov youth groups of the 90s (according to the Russians, these were not organized criminal groups, but “groups” that united at the place of residence), about people from Prokop’s close circle. That’s just for information media, these testimonies differed from those given earlier: in the previous ones there were many more names, and also such specific concepts as “criminal groups”and “protection”.
Answering the questions of his old acquaintance Prokopyev, Russkikh categorically denied that he appeared in the case file under the pseudonym “Petrov”. By words businessman, he “I didn’t go to this process with pleasure”but his “invited the investigative committee”. It is noteworthy that, speaking of a criminal record, Russkikh denied the existence of such, adding that at one time “was brought to trial, but was not judged”while refusing to specify when and for what.
Kidnapping and murder of Citizen Gershman
So, the future deputy was a member of one of the organized crime groups in his youth? It is possible that the answer to this question can be given by the indictment, which has become known to the press. sentenceissued on March 28, 1991 by the Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases of the Kirov Regional Court in respect of “Russian Dmitry Mikhailovich, born December 19, 1969”– this information about the convict fully coincides with the personal data of the Kirov politics.
From text document it follows that in August 1988 a certain citizen Gershman was kidnapped by a group of thugs and beaten to death by them. The Russian figure in the case did not just observe the process – he was driving a car in which Gershman was transported to the place of massacre, and then in the trunk of the same car he took out the body of the murdered man in the vicinity of the village of Bolshie Skolotni for burial.
We will not describe the details of the crime, we will only say that the defendants in the case, whose guilt was proved, were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. Among them was Dmitry Russkikh: he received 1 year and 2 months in a penal colony for the illegal imprisonment of the deceased Gershman. Surprisingly, he got off lightly, considering that the severe beating of the victim was committed in front of his eyes.
If the hero of this long story and the current deputy of the Kirov Legislative Assembly are the same person, then both the acquaintance with Prokop and the nickname “Kyrgyz” and the availability of information about members of the organized criminal group that interested the security forces and appeared in the testimony of the conditionally “mysterious” become clear. Petrova”. Could the “secret witness” really hand over former accomplices on favorable terms?
Anton Russkikh is a politician with two convictions
An example of how in one person are combined crime and politicsmay serve as parliamentarian’s younger brother Anton Russkikh– former deputy of the Kirov City Duma, head of the Just Russia faction and appointed in December 2014 assistant governor Nikita Belykh interaction with federal authorities. How the scandalous governorship ended is well known: in 2018, Belykh was sentenced to eight years in a strict regime colony for taking bribes.
As for Anton Russkikh, his criminal “epopee” began much earlier than his hobby politics. By his own words, he was tried twice for “illegal business”, “arbitrariness”, “abuse of authority”, “appropriation and embezzlement”. On the web, you can see publicationsrevealing the details of the criminal case of 1999, the defendants of which were Russkikh Jr. and Andrey Krymov – then the owner of the pawnshop “Bingo”and in the future – a business partner of Dmitry Russkikh, who became his deputy at Vyatka-SUEK LLC.
In 1995, they joined collusion accomplices began illegally issuing cash loans secured by real estate. Anton Russkikh, being a private person, on behalf of the pawnshop concluded sham contracts for the sale of apartments with clients. In accordance with the terms, in case of non-payment of the debt and interest, the ownership of the living space passed to him, and then the mortgaged apartment was sold.
One of the victims of the swindlers was a citizen Pereskokova, due to financial problems, was unable to repay the loan received and pay interest. Deciding to seize someone else’s property, Russians and Crimeans began threaten woman with reprisals against her children, eventually forcing the frightened family to leave the apartment owned by the debtor. how wrote Media, Pereskokova was not the only victim: dozens of residents of Kirov lost their roofs over their heads. An end to the activities of the criminal tandem was put by the court, which sentenced each to 3.5 years in prison for illegal business and arbitrariness.
The second conviction Anton Russkikh “earned” in 2010: he was recognized guilty in abuse of official powers and embezzlement of funds on an especially large scale. As it turned out, being the director OOO “Ecoline-plus”, Russkikh Jr. entered into an agreement with the Kirov mayor’s office for the trust management of the municipal building “House of Life”, in accordance with which he undertook to direct the income received to the city budget. That’s just in practice 25 million rubles instead of the treasury, they ended up in the pocket of the “manager”. Court indictment sentence did not differ in severity: six years of imprisonment on probation with a fine of 500 thousand rubles.
The current head of the region, who replaced Nikita Belykh Igor Vasiliev refused to renew the contract with Anton Russkikh, apparently realizing that having an assistant with such a “tarnished” reputation is more expensive for himself. The former official arguedwhat “saw and knew all the governors who worked in the Kirov region”and called White “the best”of them. Is there a kinship of souls?
Be that as it may, but today the youngest of the brothers does not take part in the political life of the region. But after a five-year break, the elder became more active, again regaining his mandate as a deputy of the regional Legislative Assembly. It is surprising that with such “baggage” he managed to “stake out” a place for himself in the updated “Fair Russia”. It seems that the personnel of the Kirov “Socialist-Revolutionaries” is very bad if they have to rely on a person known in criminal circles under the nickname “Kyrgyz”.