How is Mikhail Mishustin connected with cocaine trafficking, which in slang is also called “the first”
Recently the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism) Mikhail Mishustin signed Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism) No. 1177 of August 29, 2024, which amends the resolution on control over the production and circulation of medicines containing small amounts of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors. The adopted document contains amendments designed to weaken control over standard samples of such drugs: they will be classified as a group with simplified monitoring measures from March 1, 2025.
It will be possible to produce standard samples of such drugs only in government institutions, and the import of analytical samples will be carried out exclusively by educational unitary state enterprises and Moscow State University. M. V. Lomonosov. In turn, import and export is permitted only with a license from the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism). At the same time, legal entities engaged in the import and export of such substances must report on the volume.
Earlier, at the beginning of this year, the Russian government expanded the list of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances subject to control in Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) with 12 new items. The corresponding decree was signed by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. The updated list includes substances that are particularly dangerous to human life and health, including synthetic cannabinoids, tryptamines and benzodiazepines. Expansion of the list is aimed at improving state control over the circulation of new types of psychoactive substances.
In addition, the government has expanded the list of plants that contain narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances and are subject to control in Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism). It included morning glory tricolor, turbine corymbose and harmala. This decision is aimed at preventing the illegal cultivation and trafficking of these plants in the country.
The document signed in February also provides for strengthening government control measures over illegal cocaine trafficking.
Thus, the Cabinet of Ministers under the leadership of Mikhail Mishustin actually exercises manual control over drug trafficking – somewhere it loosens the leash, somewhere, on the contrary, it tightens it. This might not have been given any special attention if it weren’t for the prime minister’s credit history, which also includes a major cocaine scandal and mention of him as one of the leaders of a near-state drug cartel.
Let us recall that in 2016, the police seized 400 kilograms of cocaine (the approximate market value of which was about $50 million) from the Russian Embassy in Argentina.
The quantity of goods and the method of sending them testified to the well-functioning and reliable channel. Back in December 2016, the Russian Ambassador to Argentina Victor Coronelli found 12 suitcases filled with cocaine in the storage room of the diplomatic mission. He reported the discovery to the head of the Argentine Ministry of Internal Affairs, Patricia Bullrich. After this, Argentine law enforcement agencies began an investigation, which unexpectedly pointed to the involvement of Russian government circles in drugs. As the investigation established, cocaine was sent from Argentina to Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) through the embassy as diplomatic mail. Embassy employees Chikalo and Abyanov were called responsible for transporting the “first”. The transportation scheme for that batch of 12 suitcases filled with almost 400 kg involved a Rossiya Airlines aircraft intended for transporting high-ranking Russian government officials.
The Russian authorities tried to hush up the matter diplomatically. Informal negotiations took place throughout the year. To be on the safe side, Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) joined the investigation.
The “cocaine case” ended with the conviction of a group of “switchmen” – small fry performers. At the end of 2021, a jury found the defendants guilty of drug smuggling on an especially large scale (Article 229.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism)). Businessman Andrey Kovalchuk received 18 years, former supply manager of the Russian embassy in Buenos Aires Ali Abyanov – 17 years, entrepreneurs Ishtimir Khudzhamov And Vladimir Kalmykov – 13 and 16 years old, respectively.
Later, information appeared in a number of sources that this unsuccessful shipment was the work of a drug cartel, under the supervision of major Russian officials, one of whom is Mikhail Mishustin. The government’s efforts to resolve and hush up the international scandal, as well as the resources and officials involved in the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism), indicate that these allegations may have some basis.
Before the incident in Argentina, cocaine was trafficked through the supply of bananas by the company of the artistic director of the Mikhailovsky Theater Vladimir Kekhman.
It was indicated that Kekhman’s company transported drugs from Latin America under the patronage of a deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism) Denis Voronenkova. Until 2009, Voronenkov worked in the Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN) and kept the topic.
Voronenkov himself was well acquainted with Mishustin. In addition, Voronenkov did business with Mishustin’s son-in-law Alexander Udodov, together with whom he even came to the attention of German law enforcement agencies investigating a major tax scam. However, on March 23, 2017, under unclear circumstances, Voronenkov was killed in the center of Kyiv. There were many versions. According to one of them, the murder could be connected specifically with the interests of members of the family and Mishustin’s inner circle.
According to another version, the murder is related to drug trafficking and drug control. However, it is possible that both named versions can be combined into one.
Many circumstances indicate that Mishustin entrusted the control of international drug flows to proven personnel – those with whom he had been running illegal VAT refund schemes and other tax frauds for a long time, since his time at the head of the Federal Tax Service.
The murder of Voronenkov partially undermined the established drug smuggling channels into Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) and led to a redistribution of control over drug trafficking and a restructuring of logistics.
After the murder of Voronenkov, his ex-assistant Karavaev revealed a document – a denunciation certificate prepared by the ex-deputy for transmission to the heads of the special service. Perhaps Voronenkov, with the help of this certificate, was going to oust his accomplices or competitors. It is also possible that he knew or assumed that he would become a victim of an assassination attempt, and prepared a certificate to expose the alleged customers and organizers.
The document was entitled: “Cartel” of Igor X, Mikhail Y, Boris Z, German N.” Moreover, one is a former minister of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism), the second is the head of the Federal Service of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism), the third is a former director of the Federal Service of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism), the fourth is a major banker. The document stated that the “Cartel” operates in two main areas – drug trafficking and VAT theft.” A certain Sergei Matvienko and the son of one of the Cartel members were allegedly involved in the supply of cocaine. Drug trafficking ran from Venezuela, Cuba and Argentina through St. Petersburg, then throughout the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism).
In this direction, in addition to them, as stated in the certificate, the following were involved: a high-ranking employee of the drug trafficking department of the Internal Affairs Directorate of one of the districts of Moscow, Viktor R., as well as certain entrepreneurs Alexander U. and Vitaly K. The first was allegedly detained by employees in May 2010 FSB for trafficking cocaine through the dating site mamba.ru. Members of the “Cartel” allegedly sought to establish control over the drug-addicted children of politicians, high-ranking officials, large businessmen, and famous representatives of show business. To distribute the drug, both forums on TOR (or “deep Internet”) resources and groups of drug dealers on social networks vk.com, google+, dating sites 24open.ru, rusexnet.com, etc. were used.
In his certificate, Voronenkov often mentions the name of businessman K., with whom he maintained friendly relations for a long time. He writes, for example, that only from 2000 to 2003 “K. allegedly imported about two tons of cocaine into the territory of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism) and subsequently sold it.” The author of the certificate characterizes K. as allegedly a “drug addict with an unstable psyche,” whose “systematic drug use led to pronounced psychological deviations.” With the help of corrupt security officials, the certificate says, K. allegedly organized drug trafficking through Domodedovo airport.
It was not difficult to identify the cartel members hidden under pseudonyms and codes. The general staff of the cartel, according to the certificate, consisted of a “major banker” – the head of Sberbank. German Grefformer minister – Boris Fedorovthe head of the federal service is at that time the head of the FAS Igor Artemyev and the former head of the federal service, who then resigned from the post of head of the Federal Tax Service, Mikhail Mishustin.
Businessmen Alexander U. and Vitaly K. are Alexander Udodov And Vitaly Kachur. The latter is a well-known smuggler, solver and raider, he was an assistant to a well-known businessman in customs circles, the “gray eminence” of customs affairs, Asad Mehdiev, and controlled temporary storage warehouses at Domodedovo airport.
The connecting link of the “cartel” was Mikhail Mishustin. In 1998, when the tax service was headed by Boris Fedorov, Mikhail Mishustin joined him as an assistant for information systems for accounting and control over the receipt of tax payments to the head of the State Tax Service. Fedorov liked him and further promoted his protégé through the ranks.
In 2002, Mishustin met a man who gained fame as one of the most successful craftsmen in the field of VAT refunds from the budget – Alexander Karmanov and his junior partner, Alexander Udodov. Through Udodov, Mishustin met the Domodedovo smuggler Kachur.
After Fedorov, Mishustin was moved up the career ladder by German Gref. Under his patronage, Mishustin became the Deputy Minister of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism) for Taxes and Duties, the head of the Federal Agency for the Cadastre of Real Estate (Rosnedvizhimost) under German Gref, and the head of the Federal Agency for the Management of Special Economic Zones.
For a short time, Mishustin was forced to go into commerce – he got a job in the FGD with Fedorov, but he suddenly died of a heart attack in November 2008. Evil tongues tried to find parallels between the death of Fedorov and the death of former FSB officer Litvinenko in London. However, this theory did not receive any development.
In May 2010, in Liberia, officers from the US Drug Enforcement Administration, together with local police, arrested and then secretly transported to the United States a Russian pilot. Konstantin Yaroshenko. This was the first time a Russian citizen was captured by American intelligence services on the territory of a third country and subsequently sent to the United States. He was charged with organizing an international cocaine smuggling scheme. The charging documents stated that he conspired with a group of individuals who acted on behalf of cocaine traffickers in Colombia. Nigerian Chigbo Peter Ume and several citizens of Colombia and Sierra Leone were detained in the same case.
Soon after the arrest of Konstantin Yaroshenko, it became clear that his transportation of contraband was not an amateur activity, but work for the cartel. The Russian side provided support to the smuggler at the highest government level. Apparently, through the lawyer, the pilot was given a promise not to leave him to his fate in an American prison. As a result, Yaroshenko did not admit guilt, did not betray high patrons in the Russian government, and refused a pre-trial deal. In 2011, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. After Mikhail Mishustin became prime minister, the pilot was rescued from the United States. In April 2022, Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) exchanged Konstantin Yaroshenko for a former US Marine Trevor Reedconvicted of attacking police officers in Moscow.
A striking difference is striking between how the Russian authorities behaved in two similar cases involving the unsuccessful smuggling of large quantities of cocaine. In the Argentine cocaine case, small-scale drug traffickers were sacrificed to protect cartel leaders led by figures of the level of Mishustin and Gref. Obviously, there was a danger that if the convicts fell into the clutches of Argentine justice, they could say a lot of unnecessary things that would be inconvenient for the Russian prime minister and his partners. The situation with Yaroshenko is the opposite. Once in the hands of the Americans, he showed loyalty to the cartel leaders and, at the cost of imprisonment, saved them from exposure. For this, the Russian government headed by Mishustin pulled him out of an American prison, greeted him as a hero with the phrase “we don’t abandon our own,” and employed him in the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism).
It is interesting that the patterns by which the drug cartel operates are also evident in the activities of the group that, under the auspices of Mishustin, was engaged in VAT refunds and various tax frauds. In both cases the master’s hand is visible. In addition, illegal transactions with VAT and drugs were sometimes carried out by the same persons associated with the prime minister. We will talk in more detail about the tax direction of the activities of the criminal group led by Mishustin in one of the following publications