Still, we live in amazing times. Not in the sense that grandiose things are happening around us that amaze the imagination, but in a completely different way. For example, the fact that crime today is registered in places where an irreconcilable fight must be waged against it. Ostap Bender is just a rootless klutz compared to the generals from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
But what about the generals, nowadays any captain of internal affairs will give a hundred points ahead to the great strategist.
There are many examples of this. Here's one of them.
Somehow it naturally happened that the Investigative Committee under the Ministry of Internal Affairs began to successfully combine the functions of a private commercial enterprise and a government agency. And all this thanks to the tireless active work of the deputy head of the Investigative Committee, Yuri Alekseev, and another equally high-ranking employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - Vladislav Volynsky. These “fighters” against crime have achieved what President Medvedev has been tirelessly and unsuccessfully calling on the Russian bureaucracy. Namely: to build not in the economy, but right under the roof of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, a kind of public-private partnership. Quite in the spirit of the times.
In order to more clearly imagine the successes of Colonel Alekseev, one must take at least a short glance at his recent track record. Quite a long time ago he realized that he served in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The key word in his understanding is internal. And he began to actively engage in... his own internal affairs. Alekseev began to “warm up” in the field of theft of private property and bribery back in 2004. Then, at the start of his career, being the deputy head of the Investigative Committee at the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, Colonel Alekseev, together with employees of the Main Directorate for Economic Crimes of the SKM of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation and the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for the Central Federal District, carried out a large-scale operation to ... No, no, don’t think that it was to capture especially dangerous criminals . However, he caught what he wanted.
Law enforcement agencies received information that in the warehouses of Esmeral LLC there is a large batch of shoes that allegedly have signs of smuggling. And so Colonel Alekseev and his comrades planned... the removal of goods. Maybe they did this for the sake of the bright ideals of eradicating smuggling, or maybe in order to receive a large monetary reward for its return in the future, who knows?
In any case, on the instructions of Alekseev, senior investigator Stolyarchuk I.V. on far-fetched grounds, he issued a decree to conduct a search at the warehouses of Esmeral LLC in the framework of criminal case No. 91039, which is in his proceedings. Due to the urgency of the investigative actions, the resolution was issued without the sanction of the prosecutor and was subsequently notified. This is permissible in exceptional cases. And since the “sledaki” were in a hurry (to line their own pockets?), they decided that this was exactly that exceptional case. On February 9, 2004, a group that included employees of the above departments began a search. The discovered goods were immediately recognized as contraband. Of course, such detectives did not even need to check the documents provided by the owners. After which Stolyarchuk decided to export the goods to the warehouses of accredited companies, without having any procedural grounds for this.
No one paid any attention to the fact that when drawing up the search protocol, the requirements of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation were violated (the seized items were not listed with an exact indication of their quantity, measure, weight and individual characteristics). After all, often the main goal of the investigation is not to establish the truth, but to confiscate all property from warehouses, including customs ones, and quickly transport it to the territory of “their” warehouse controlled by Alekseev and employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (which has a license from the Russian Federal Property Fund for the sale of confiscated goods) and obtaining 30% from the value of the property sold. Thus, consumer goods taken from cars leaving the ACT terminal were seized and sold within two weeks. The value of the confiscated goods was about 700 thousand US dollars.
When, if not during serious operations, does experience come to a real policeman? Soon another operation was carried out brilliantly. Employees of the valiant authorities under the leadership of the “real colonel” Alekseev detained six trucks with goods leaving the Eurasia terminal. The goods, however, were not sold; they were even returned to the owner. And it is possible that not for free. And the fact that during unloading and unloading there was a loss worth about 100 thousand US dollars is a trifle that true crime fighters should not be distracted by. After all, the total cost of the goods is 1 million 400 thousand US dollars.
At the same time, it is necessary to explain why a high-ranking officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs entrusts such responsible actions to a simple investigator Stolyarchuk. It is known that Alekseev has a strong male friendship with him. It was to him that Alekseev confidentially reported about his close relationship with an employee of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation Polyakov, with whom he already lived in the same entrance of a prestigious house on the street. Marxist. Among the employees of the Investigative Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs there are stories that in April 2004 the same Stolyarchuk paid for a banquet ($8,000) on the occasion of Alekseev’s birthday in the expensive Maska restaurant, which was located on the Garden Ring near Smolenskaya Square, as well as and that Stolyarchuk helped Alekseev in the same year 2004 to purchase “modest” Mercedes ML 320 and Toyota Land Cruiser 100 cars (over $200,000).
If these stories are true, then perhaps this happened so that the colonel could, without fear of exposure, act undercover among financial tycoons?
Time passed, and Alekseev successfully moved up the career ladder. It would not be an exaggeration to say that, while holding the position of deputy head of the department - head of the department for investigating the activities of criminal communities of the investigative unit of the Investigative Committee under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation on the platform of the Investigative Committee under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, he created his own stable group, which included employees especially close to Alekseev: Chief of the Dispatch Service Syzrantsev V.G., his deputies Matveev A.N., Dispatch Officers Stolyarchuk I.V., Aleksandrov M.Yu., Sivtsev A.A., Tsymbal V.A. and others. From that moment on, only this group under the “sensitive” leadership and direct control of Alekseev himself was involved in the investigation of “particularly important” criminal cases (including those that were ordered). Moreover, this was done almost openly.
Food for thought. First of all, a fairly well-known criminal case No. 193612 related to the investigation of episodes of alienation of assets belonging to Nogiron LLC, Sartol LLC and their counterparties, transactions of exchange of bills between JSCB Ingosstrakh Soyuz and Nogiron LLC, Sartol LLC , other companies, investigation of episodes of withdrawal of funds from the accounts of enterprises belonging to the informal holding of Andreeva A.I., to the accounts of false enterprises (i.e., enterprises whose founders were not aware of their establishment), which were used as transit for the withdrawal of funds . A promising criminal case was purposefully terminated as a result of a biased investigation. As a result, a number of employees of the operational investigative units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs suffered various types of punishment, and some had to resign: A.R. Morozov, P.A. Kurguev. and others. Subsequently, based on the latter’s statements, internal checks were carried out, which did not bring any clarity to what had happened.
Alekseev’s personal control also included other criminal cases in the department (No. 193609, 910024, 91035, 91039, 91048, 91050, 193615), which entrepreneurs consider to be ordered. The cases were being processed by the senior investigator for particularly important cases, A.A. Sivtsev. and the same Stolyarchuk I.V. Alekseev actively used the seconded employee of the GUBOP SKM of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia S.K. Sarkisyan. as an intermediary between the investigation and the persons guilty of committing the incriminated crimes. To resolve issues of terminating criminal prosecution (as entrepreneurs say, “of course, not for free”). And it should be noted that the seconded Sargsyan quickly mastered the specific skills of fighting against lawbreakers, which he was taught by his wise mentor and highly qualified “specialist” Alekseev.
Entrepreneurs say that when resolving such issues, it was only about 1 million 500 thousand US dollars for resolving the issue and stopping the investigation. They say that criminal case No. 193613 on the fact of smuggling cars of JSC Panavto to its owners could have reached this amount, and similar proposals were made to JSC Wimm-Bill-Dann. On the contrary, a criminal case was initiated against the head of MVO-Holding CJSC Timokhov for immodest material compensation, which was subsequently forcibly terminated by the General Prosecutor's Office of Russia.
As time passed, Alekseev’s appetites grew. At the same time, his income also grew. There is talk among investigators that in 2006, two heads of departments and one investigator received a bribe in the amount of 3 million euros (!) for a positive decision in the sale of contraband goods (telephones and office equipment) through an accredited company. The equipment was registered as evidence in a criminal case.
Investigators also tell how their colleague Kissin flew on vacation to the United States, where he paid attention to real estate. The head of the department, Gorev, also made a similar trip. By the way, he flew to the USA via the Czech Republic, where he filled out his vacation documents. Gorev did not receive permission to fly to the United States from the leadership of the Investigative Committee under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, as is required in this department. This is what their colleagues say - we don’t know whether it’s true or not, but the leadership of the Investigative Committee, if desired, has every opportunity to check whether it is true or not.
In parallel with Alekseev’s activities, another criminal syndicate was gaining strength in Moscow, which subsequently united numerous disparate raider brigades under its roof. He became close to Fondservibank OJSC.
The saga of Fondservisbank
OJSC Fondservicebank positions itself as a financial and credit structure strategically oriented towards the development of the domestic economy. The bank was opened in 1994.Food for thought. The President of OJSC Fondservisbank is Mr. Volovnik A.D. (Volovnik Alexander Davidovich. Jew. Born 1961. Native of Tbilisi. Passport 45 04 No. 115782, issued on November 15, 2002 by the Fili-Davydkovo Department of Internal Affairs of Moscow. Registered: Moscow, Marshala Nedelina St., 20, quarter 23. Graduated from Tbilisi State University and the Moscow Institute of International Business at the All-Russian Academy of Foreign Trade. In 1995, he headed the management company STK Soyuz. At the same time, he became friends with Kiselev - RSPP, Mikhail Topalov - member of the Board of Directors of Fondservisbank, Koptev - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fondservisbank, former employee of Roscosmos).
Volovnik maintained close relations with the late Badri Patarkatsishvili. It was Patarkatsishvili who brought Volovnik into contact with Nevzlin, Gusinsky, Berezovsky, Irakli Okruashvili (former head of the Georgian defense department), Temur Yakobashvili (Georgian Jew, Deputy Prime Minister of Georgia), Kakha Bendukidze, Givi Targamadze (head of the parliamentary committee on defense and security of Georgia ), Irakli Managadze (National Bank of Georgia). An interesting fact is that Irakli Managadze is closely associated with EBRD President Jacques Lemierre.
It is impossible to list all the illegal cases that went through this bank in one article. Too many of them. We will focus on just a few. So to speak, a selection from pulp fiction.
According to the website fondservice.pcriot.com, about a hundred shell companies have been created at Fondservicebank for “illegal banking activities of disguise” and “large-scale criminal activities” - a list of them is even posted on the website. We don’t know whether this is true, but it’s hard to imagine an “inventor” who would invent a hundred companies with all the details...
Currently, something like a central raider system (CRS) has been created. Where is our colonel? - you ask. We will answer. He's also busy. And with money. With such active illegal activity, the bank would inevitably have problems with law enforcement agencies. It didn't happen right away. Still, our authorities are not as active as the criminal community. In the spring of 2008, an investigator from the Main Investigation Department of the Main Internal Affairs Directorate of the Moscow Region, as Novaya Gazeta writes, “as part of a criminal case, a search was carried out at Fondservisbank and very serious documents were seized, including from Menyailov’s safe. And he is a paranoidly fearful person, and therefore he recorded most of the conversations, including Volovnik’s conversations. The situation was quite difficult: the bank’s managers were hiding from Androsov. And the only way out of this situation was a bribe to a high-ranking law enforcement officer.
As far as I know, Volovnik brought 250 thousand dollars at that time to the colonel, acting as deputy head of the Investigative Committee at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Yuri Alekseev. I saw with my own eyes in the case materials Alekseev’s pleading letter to the head of the investigative department of the Moscow Region Central Internal Affairs Directorate. A letter of this nature: “Dear Ivan Ivanovich, I have received numerous complaints from Fondservisbank (what fright did they send to Alekseev?). You have seized a large number of documents, they do not belong to the criminal case materials, so please return them.” That is, it was not a written instruction in a criminal case - a purely pleading letter. For some reason, Alekseev’s request was fulfilled, and all the materials were returned.”
After this, the investigator was ordered to stop investigative actions against Fondservicebank OJSC.
Either a great friendship or a corrupt connection between Alekseev and Volovnik opened up new opportunities and boundless horizons for them in making a profit. Feeling such serious support from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the bank’s management began work on integrating raider groups around itself to collect information about unprotected objects of financial and economic activity (commercial and budgetary organizations) in order to carry out seizures. Alekseev, having connections in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB, the prosecutor's office, and courts, became for Volovnik a guarantor of security and a successful dubious business.
In addition, operating with huge funds, the Central Distribution Center places its people in government positions related to the distribution of budget funds (there are documents on the State Budgetary Institution “Housing and Communal Services” for the Northern Administrative District of Moscow, as well as on the demolition of “Rechnik” in the Closed Administrative District of Moscow) . An experienced bank manager, and simply a smart person, A.D. Volovnik. I understood perfectly well that without such a combat unit as the Investigative Committee, and indeed without high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, it would be difficult to work in the field of the raider movement. And he was not mistaken.
Food for thought. In 1994, having rented a semi-basement room to create a small bank, young Volovnik decided to start conquering Moscow. Not possessing professional skills, but able to quickly navigate the situation, he realized that he could not do without a strong patron. And in 1996, he managed to break through the crowd of “petitioners” to Badri Patarkatsishvili, already famous at that time (they were united by origin - both were Jews and natives of Georgia). The meeting took place at the Logovaz reception house at the address: st. Novokuznetskaya, house 40. The meeting was organized by Badri’s relative, a certain Joseph Kay, a US citizen. Patarkatsishvili told Volovnik that he would not give money, but would help with connections. By and large, then neither Berezovsky nor Patarkatsishvili paid much attention to Volovnik, but he was noticed by someone “Alexander Mikhailovich” (real name Alexander Shulman, an Israeli).
“Alexander Mikhailovich” constantly stayed in the Logovaz reception house and looked out for the right people among high-ranking visitors. It is possible that friendly contact arose between “Alexander Mikhailovich” and Volovnik.
It is also possible that “Alexander Mikhailovich” introduced Volovnik into the circle of the space (including military-strategic), aviation and transport establishment. This probably explains Volovnik’s excessive interest in these areas. And here we return again to the topic of the CRS. This aspect is worth noting. The head of the Organizational and Inspectorate Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, V.A. Volynsky, may have also become close to the Alekseev-Volovnik group.
By the way, we quite seriously inform the reader that Volynsky V.A. nominated for the extraordinary rank of lieutenant general in connection with the 65th anniversary of the USSR victory over Nazi Germany. Represented by his patron - Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, General Smirny. In our opinion, this is blasphemy. Alas, in our country anything is possible. Let's see what the President decides.
Schemes drawn up by investigators
We sincerely hope that in reality things are not as pessimistic as they depict. We hope and believe that unsavory agreements have not penetrated into all the places depicted in these diagrams. After all, hope, as they say, dies last.Who wants to steal a millionaire
Kidnap a billionaire, receive a ransom and become a billionaire yourself - such simple thoughts probably visited every second criminal. Indeed, there are a dime a dozen oligarchs in Russia, and when you see the forbidden fruit (someone else’s wealth), it seems - just extend your hand and it’s yours. But the vast majority of such insidious plans fail. Let us recall examples of high-profile abductions of LUKOIL Vice President Kukura or the son of computer genius Ivan Kaspersky. The criminals eventually ended up where they were supposed to be - on the bunks. The most notorious recent example was the kidnapping of the head of Fondservisbank, Alexander Volovnik. “MK” received a unique opportunity to find out how the special services work in such cases, how negotiations are conducted and why the bandits fail to complete their plans.
On one of the warm days of August 2013, a middle-aged man entered the premises of Fondservisbank. After looking around, he went to the security guard and demanded that the director of the security service be called to see him. Everything in his tone and look said that he possessed some extremely important information.
“The director of your bank, Alexander Volovnik, is going to be kidnapped and possibly killed,” the stranger said to the head of security who came out to him.
- How do you know?
- Because I and my people were hired for this purpose.
Song about a merchant and Kalashnikov
The mastermind of the crime was 30-year-old Moscow native Ilya Kalashnikov. According to relatives, a kind-hearted man with a legal education worked part-time as an economist. True, everyone noted: Kalashnikov did not like being an ordinary clerk, he always loved excitement. This probably explains the fact that he supported his family (Kalashnikov was married, his daughter was growing up) not only with wages, but also with proceeds from very specific operations. For example, Ilya had his interest in helping regional entrepreneurs with dubious businesses launder money through various banks.
One day he received a serious order: he had to transfer 100 million rubles from Ukraine to the accounts of shell companies in Moscow. History is silent about why Ilya Kalashnikov chose Fondservisbank for this purpose, but it is possible that someone misled the economist by reporting that the bank’s director, Alexander Volovnik, regularly carried out such operations in the past.
HELP "MK"
Volovnik Alexander Davidovich was born in 1961 in Tbilisi. In the 90s, he met Badri Patarkatsishvili, who introduced Volovnik to the circle of influential figures: Gusinsky, Berezovsky, Givi Targamadze and others. In 1994 he created Fondservisbank, in 1995 he headed the management company STK Soyuz and became friends with the financial director of RUSNANO Oleg Kiselev. In 1998, Volovnik, as the head of Fondservisbank, repeatedly came to the attention of law enforcement agencies on suspicion of large-scale criminal activity. In the spring of 2008, Fondservisbank was searched by officers of the Moscow Region Central Internal Affairs Directorate. But the criminal case was eventually closed.
But when the money arrived from Ukraine, the bank’s economic security service saw an obvious catch and returned all the funds back to Square.
The next day, an indignant Kalashnikov rushed to an appointment with the general director of the bank, saying that he owed him for the failure of the money transfer. Ilya was not convinced by the explanations of Volovnik and his employees that the bank does not deal with such matters; he believed that the head of the bank was simply “playing a comedy.” Kalashnikov did not calm down, called, wrote letters, and once waylaid the head of a financial institution near the bank’s doors. True, the quarrel was quickly stopped by the driver of the head of the financial institution, who also worked as a bodyguard.
Offended, Ilya Kalashnikov decided that he would make Alexander Volovnik pay both for his tarnished reputation (the transfer was never completed) and for his wasted nerves. For help, he turned to his friend - an old thief in law from Rostov, who had long since retired.
“I’ll take revenge on him, and we’ll make good money.” Let's kill the guard, and kidnap Volovnik himself, he will give us as much as we demand.
- Do you even understand who you took a swing at? He was involved in serious business in the 90s, do you think you can just keep your bank in Moscow? His friends are people you've only seen on TV! Think about it, if he drives without security, that means he’s not afraid of anything at all. Who are you? Who's behind you? You are alone! - An elderly thief tried to stop the novice thief.
However, exhortations were useless; Ilya insisted on his own, declaring that his kidnapping plan was flawless, all that was needed was an executor. The old thief got rid of Kalashnikov by handing him a business card from “a person needed for the business.”
The “needed person” lived in Sochi, was not used to turning down good money, and although he had more than one prison sentence behind him, he considered that offers of 160 million rubles were not being thrown around. True, when he learned who exactly he was going to kidnap, the bandit became slightly depressed.
— Volovnik always moves around the city only with his driver, there is no security, no support service, you only need to kill the driver and kidnap the banker. “And I’ll make him pay everything he owes me,” Ilya Kalashnikov told the bandit, “we’ll get 800 million, 20 percent is yours.”
- How do you know that you will get exactly that much?
“He is weak, he will see the ticks and will provide any amount we ask.”
— The prospects are too vague, there are no guarantees. Let's do it this way, you pay now 20 percent of 800 million, I do. Or later, when we have the money, we divide it 50/50.
- We will receive 800 million and not a ruble less! I have good guarantees.
- And what are they?
“Volovnik’s deputy really wants the boss to disappear so that he can take the reins of government into his own hands.”
The Sochi resident thought deeply. Ilya Kalashnikov’s plan had many blind spots, and therefore risks. Firstly, the prospect of receiving funds was too vague, but the deadline was quite specific. Secondly, Kalashnikov clearly did not fully decide what to do when Volovnik was kidnapped. At first he said that he would torture him and shake off the entire amount, then he said about some third party that would guarantee the payment of funds. The criminal past told the Sochi resident that after completing the job, all this could end for him with a bullet in the back of the head from the notorious third party.
Meanwhile, the bandit had almost no time to think. Ilya Kalashnikov demanded an urgent answer. The bandit understood: if he refused the offer, it was unlikely that he, having been initiated into such a crime, would be left alive. Perhaps that is why the above-described meeting with the head of the security service of Fondservicebank took place.
For the sake of the well-being of his family, Ilya Kalashnikov was ready to commit any crime.
Murder plan "under supervision"
After the Sochi authority appeared at the security service, he was invited to Petrovka. He explained his decision to hand over Kalashnikov to the police on moral grounds. However, the security service believed that the Sochi resident was guided by much more prosaic reasons. He simply needed money, Kalashnikov didn’t have it, but Volovnik and his guards definitely had it, the gangster was counting on gratitude. Therefore, he chose a obviously win-win option with the opportunity to save life and freedom.
The next day, the Sochi resident went to meet Ilya, accompanied by a MUR operative, whom he introduced as his driver, who knows Moscow well.
The new person surrounded by the Sochi resident did not arouse Kalashnikov’s suspicions. It didn’t matter to him at all what forces he planned to use to carry out his plan. That same day they went to the garage cooperative, where Ilya’s father had a garage.
- There is a good basement here, the place is quiet. Bring Volovnik, put him on a chair, I’ll come and talk to him,” Kalashnikov told the bandit, grinning unkindly.
- I need time to prepare, I need to keep an eye on the goal and think through everything.
- There’s nothing to think about, he travels alone! Every day at five in the evening he leaves the office, gets into his huge Mercedes and drives home. Don't drag your feet! - Kalashnikov was angry.
However, the Sochi resident still convinced the attacker to give him a few days.
“We needed this time to document all the suspect’s words regarding his plans. In addition, in the process of observing Kalashnikov, we learned that he also communicates with certain people from the criminal world. From time to time he met with them in secret, and, as we understood, this was connected with our case,” Dmitry Buzan, head of the second department of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department, told MK. “We immediately had several versions regarding his plans. The first option: he hoped that we would bring him Volovnik, he would extract money from him, and then he and his people would shoot us, the second option - he was simply insuring himself. And finally, the third option - Kalashnikov and Volovnik’s deputy, whom he mentioned, simply wanted to kill the head of Fondservisbank at the hands of bandits, who were then planned to be liquidated. The deputy would become chairman of the bank and pay Kalashnikov money for a successful operation.
However, the third version was dropped after several days of monitoring Alexander Volovnik’s deputy. He did not have any contacts with people from the criminal world and did not intersect with Ilya Kalashnikov in any way. He led a completely calm lifestyle. It became clear: when speaking about the deputy, Kalashnikov was bluffing.
Having made sure that all the threads of this crime lead only to Kalashnikov, the Murovites decided to begin the operation. They called Ilya and told him to be ready and wait for the call.
Life is a theater, and the people in it are actors.
To catch Kalashnikov red-handed, the operatives decided to take him with live bait. The police went to meet with Alexander Volovnik.
“He was not surprised when he found out what Kalashnikov was up to. There was a feeling that he was expecting something similar from Ilya,” recalls operative Ruslan Utkin, “we told him our plan, which was that everything would be played the way the customer wanted.
But the head of a large financial institution refused the police’s request. He did not want to see Kalashnikov, perhaps fearing for his life, or perhaps he was afraid that during the conversation, which would be recorded, the kidnapper would ask him some uncomfortable question, which would later have unpleasant consequences.
However, the operatives were not upset. Someone came up with a good idea - to replace the real Volovnik and his driver with similar-looking criminal investigation officers. The police conducted a real theatrical casting to select suitable people. But no matter how similar the police were, it was clear that Kalashnikov, who saw the banker in the face, would immediately recognize the substitution. However, the operatives quickly found a solution to this problem - since anything can happen during a kidnapping, it was decided to present the false Volovnik as badly beaten and dented.
But here another difficulty arose - Volovnik and Kalashnikov were well versed in the affairs of the bank. It is unlikely that the operative would have been able to correctly answer Kalashnikov’s financial demands or questions without arousing suspicion.
Then the police again turned to the head of the bank for help with a request to provide the right person in their place. After thinking, Volovnik offered to play the role of himself to his assistant. He was not only similar in build to the general director, but also looked a little like him in appearance and, most importantly, was savvy in financial matters.
- Hello, Ilya, I have everything ready, we’ll do it today! You do not mind? — a bandit asked Kalashnikov early on an August morning.
“It’s about time, I was already starting to worry, I thought you decided to jump off.” It's good that I was wrong. Right now I’m coming to you with the keys to the garage. Tell me the address!
In one of the cafes in the city center, in addition to the Sochi resident and his “driver,” another criminal investigation officer with a stern appearance was waiting for Ilya, who was introduced to him as Sasha the militant.
- Meet Sasha, my trusted man, he will do everything beautifully. But look, I can’t guarantee that Volovnik will remain intact after being captured.
“It’s okay, he won’t need his health anyway.”
- Well, then I would like to get 10 thousand rubles for the barrel. Sanya will buy an unexposed Makar. And you and I will wait for him here. When everything is ready, he will return, and together we will go to your garage.
Ilya gave the money to the militant without objection. Meanwhile, the second part of the performance took place near the bank building. Immediately after receiving a message from the police that the operation had begun, the “actor” disguised as the chairman and the driver headed to the car. The police kept a close watch on her. It was necessary to be the first to notice Ilya’s accomplices if they were here and watched the capture of the director take place.
Meanwhile, the real Volovnik, wrapped in a simple cloak, went out through the back door of his bank and for the first time in many years got into a minibus crowded with people.
A conspicuous black Mercedes drove along the usual route for a businessman. At some point, a car blocked his way, shots were fired - it was Sasha who started the performance. From the outside, everything looked like a scene from an action movie: shooting, screams, blood on the asphalt. Jumping into Volovnik’s car, Sasha rushed to the garage, where the police were hanging cameras and recording equipment, and makeup artists from Mosfilm were waiting for them there. They had to do everything to make Ilya believe in the reality of what happened. First of all, they put the driver Volovnik in the back seat of the Mercedes and drew a bullet wound in his heart. When everything was ready, Sasha took a photograph of the allegedly murdered driver and rushed to the cafe where the customer was waiting for him, leaving the “actor” portraying Volovnik to the make-up artists. Here we had to work hard: adjust the wig, draw the bruises and - most importantly - make sure that Ilya did not have any questions about the voice of the “victim”. To do this, they simulated a broken jaw by stuffing the actor's mouth with cotton wool.
The “killed” driver of Volovnik, bleeding with fake blood.
Mosfilm specialists were entrusted with the make-up of the assistant to the head of the bank.
Meanwhile, in the cafe, the customer was actively pumping up alcohol.
“I might even kill him right away, I’ll destroy this bastard!” We'll still get the money! - Ilya, who was pretty warmed up, repeated more and more insistently. For several hours they had been waiting for the militant to return. The Sochi resident, who had been recording similar speeches on a dictaphone for several hours, tried to maintain composure, periodically glancing at the phone in anticipation of the treasured text message. But instead of the text message, Sasha the militant himself appeared. Having taken a sip of cold beer from the customer’s glass, he silently handed Ilya a phone with a photo of the murdered driver Volovnik.
- It is done! I have fulfilled my role, I hope you won’t let me down either? — the “action man” grinned.
- Not a question at all! Well done! And special thanks for this driver! This damn security officer almost broke my arm! - Ilya got excited. “Come on, take me to this moneybag, it’s time to shake his carcass.”
- Everyone is in place! - Colonel Dmitry Buzan, who led the operation, commanded. The car with the Kalashnikov was already nearby. The special forces hid behind the garages, waiting for Ilya's command or cover group.
Kalashnikov hurried to the basement. Sasha, who followed him, clutched a prepared pistol in his hands. Kalashnikov talked so much about killing the director that it could not be ruled out that he himself would want to shoot him. To do this, a blank cartridge was inserted into the gun in advance.
Going down into the dark basement and turning on the light, Kalashnikov smiled ominously and nodded, as he thought, to Volovnik, whose face looked like one big bruise. The “actor,” whose mouth was stuffed with cotton, mumbled something hesitantly to better imitate a broken jaw.
- How are you feeling? I guess the evening didn't go well? — the kidnapper grinned. The actor mumbled something inaudibly again. Approaching closer, Kalashnikov became gloomy. There was silence for a few seconds.
- What kind of scam, who did you bring me?! I ordered Volovnik to be brought, but it’s not him, he looks like him, but not him, and actually he doesn’t look very much like him! Where is he?! Where is Volovnik?!
The Sochi resident was silent, looking into the drunken eyes of a man who wanted to become a millionaire in no time. The next moment, the special forces rushed towards Kalashnikov.
Taken to the police station, he quickly lost his composure. He was no longer the tough thief and bandit he felt he was. He shouted that the Sochi resident forced him to kidnap Volovnik, that he was just a pawn in someone else’s game. He swore on mom, dad, and children, begging to let him go and promising to hand over everyone. Imagine his surprise when he learned that the story of his scam was known to MUR operatives from the very beginning. Today Ilya is awaiting trial in a pre-trial detention center in Moscow.
The story of Ilya Kalashnikov, a man who decided in an instant to profit from someone else’s life, is not the last of its kind. If earlier the kidnapping of the powerful was only the lot of special services and militants from hot spots, today people who are not burdened with extensive criminal experience try themselves in the role of kidnappers of living souls. But neither one nor the other is immune from mistakes - therefore, such stories, as a rule, have the same ending - cramped bunks for many years.
Employees of the GUEBiPK Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia detained the former owner of Fondservisbank, Alexander Volovnik, for issuing loans at the direction of the former management of Roscosmos.
As Kommersant has learned, tomorrow the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow will consider the petition of the investigative department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the arrest of the former president of Fondservisbank, Alexander Volovnik. According to investigators, the banker detained the day before may be involved in the theft of part of the 47 billion rubles placed in this bank by the state corporation Roscosmos.
The Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA), which is now the injured party in the criminal case, had to save the bank. Employees of the Main Directorate of Economic Security and Anti-Corruption of the Ministry of Internal Affairs detained the former owner and president of Fondservisbank on the morning of April 26, immediately after a search was carried out at his home in the west of Moscow. Alexander Volovnik was taken for questioning to the investigation department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, whose employees, as Kommersant sources close to the investigation told Kommersant, eventually issued a resolution to bring the ex-banker as a suspect in a criminal case of fraud on an especially large scale (part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code). It was assumed that the detainee would spend the night of Thursday in the temporary detention center at Petrovka, 38, and tomorrow the Tverskoy District Court would consider the investigation’s request for his arrest for two months.
The initiator of the investigation, within the framework of which the ex-owner of Fondservisbank was detained, according to Kommersant’s sources, is the Deposit Insurance Agency. Initially, the criminal case, which involved a well-known banker in the recent past, was conducted against “unidentified persons.” Perhaps, Kommersant’s interlocutor notes, the investigation would not have even developed, but after a change in the leadership of the investigation department (at the end of December last year, Alexander Romanov was appointed Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and head of the department), they decided to give it a new start.
In the criminal case, according to Kommersant’s sources, we are talking about the events of 2015, when at Fondservisbank, which was a support bank for the rocket and space industry (it served almost all the largest enterprises in the industry, their salary projects, as well as foreign currency accounts of the state corporation itself), “ about 47 billion rubles belonging to Roscosmos were stuck.
Alexander Volovnik
At the same time, when the state corporation demanded to return the funds placed in the bank, representatives of its management, as Kommersant’s sources tell us, explained that they could not do this, since they were invested in various projects, which is why a full return is possible only after three years .
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the space industry, then said: “There were smart people (I won’t call them fools) who created various kinds of schemes in which the money earned by the country for space launches was either poured into the pockets of this “space” bosses, or in one jar that had nothing to do with state control.” And he explained that in this financial structure “hundreds of millions of dollars earned by the country settled.”
Dmitry Rogozin
The management of Roscosmos turned to the Central Bank with a request to look into the work of Fondservisbank. After an audit, which, according to the then deputy chairman of the Central Bank, Mikhail Sukhov, discovered “facts of a significant overvaluation of assets,” Fondservicebank fell under the reorganization program carried out by Rostec’s supporting bank, Novikombank. Roscosmos itself offered him as a sanatorium, agreeing at the same time to freeze part of its funds placed in Fondservisbank. The DIA allocated 39 billion rubles for the rehabilitation of Fondservisbank, and Roscosmos allocated another 27 billion rubles.
Mikhail Sukhov
As investigators now believe, the former management team of Fondservisbank, led by Alexander Volovnik, could have withdrawn some of the funds from the bank for their personal projects and to cover their personal debts.
It should be noted that the Moscow Arbitration Court is currently considering the application of Sberbank PJSC to declare Alexander Volovnik bankrupt. Mr. Volovnik previously acted as a personal guarantor for a loan that PJSC Volgomost took out from Sberbank and did not return to him. The statement from Sberbank indicates that the debt of the financier, who was previously on the board of directors of Volgomost, currently exceeds 161 million rubles.
Fondservicebank and Roscosmos refrained from commenting, and Kommersant was unable to contact representatives of Mr. Volovnik.
Vladislav Trifonov
[Kommersant, 04/26/17, “What is Alexander Volovnik known for”: Alexander Vladimirovich Volovnik was born on September 13, 1961 in Tbilisi. In 1983 he graduated with honors from Tbilisi State University with a degree in solid state physics, and in 2001 from the Moscow Institute of International Business at the All-Russian Academy of Foreign Trade.
He combined research work with work in the military-industrial complex of the USSR. Since 1987, he has held senior positions in economic structures. In 1995, he headed the holding company STK Soyuz. Since 2001 - President of Fondservisbank, the financial center of the group of companies of the STK Soyuz holding company. Roscosmos projects were financed through this bank; officially, Mr. Volovnik owned 81.74% of the bank’s shares.
In February 2015, at the request of Roscosmos, a temporary administration was introduced into Fondservisbank to examine its financial situation. About $800 million of Roscosmos funds were stuck in the bank (at that time it was about 49 billion rubles). After an inspection at the bank, the reorganization procedure began, and Alexander Volovnik left his post. In 2016, the media reported that Mr. Volovnik is a co-owner of the satellite television operator Orion Express (Orion group of companies, Telekarta trademark).
Doctor of Economic Sciences, dissertation topic - “Dynamic models of banking product production to support the strategic management of a credit institution.” - Insert Scandals.Ru]
The story of a banker.
Internet edition Politika.ru posted the material, which describes, as the publication claims, the situation in which the owner of Volgomost and the owner of Fondservisbank, Alexander Volovnik, was able to harm the country. The text of the publication is given below.
The story of banker Alexander Volovnik, who swindled tens of billions of rubles from not just any investors, but from the entire space industry of the country, will undoubtedly go down in history as a striking example of the subversive activities of an entrepreneur-financier against Russia. . According to him, huge sums were withdrawn from the domestic space industry through Fondservisbank, headed by Volovnik. Moreover, as Rogozin emphasized, the money was withdrawn from the country to accounts in the United States. As a result of the banker’s illegal actions, not only Russian space suffered, but Fondservisbank itself was drained of blood: the regulator had to allocate 66 billion rubles for its reorganization.
It is also no secret that Alexander Volovnik once entered the banking business and gained access to Roscosmos budget funds through the late Boris Berezovsky and Badri Patarkatsishvili, with whom he maintained close relations. Born in Tbilisi, Volovnik considered himself not only a fellow countryman of Patarkatsishvili, but also his student in terms of building fraudulent financial schemes. It is not surprising that Volovnik’s teachers have already left, and their criminal business lives on and is embodied by a talented student who managed to firmly and firmly infiltrate the Russian banking industry. And this despite the fact that there is literally nowhere to put marks on Volovnik. At various times, he was accused of bribing officials, selling weapons through South Ossetia to Georgia, having connections with Georgian and Israeli intelligence, participating in money laundering through shell companies, up to and including schemes for theft of assets through the issuance of obviously non-repayable loans.
In addition, as noted in a number of studies of the Volovnik phenomenon, this banker, even during his formation as a Russian entrepreneur, could have been recruited by American intelligence. This is indicated by his close contacts with Patarkatsishvili’s relative, US citizen Joseph Kay, who was involved in the US intelligence services. It seems that law enforcement agencies have yet to find out the true role of Volovnik in the negative processes associated with his bank, as well as with the financial bleeding of the Russian space industry.
Meanwhile, in addition to Fondservisbank, Volovnik controls dozens of other enterprises, many of which were on the verge of bankruptcy thanks to the same fraudulent schemes. Thus, PJSC Volgomost is under the burden of debt obligations, arbitration and criminal cases, the chairman of the board of directors of which is Alexander Volovnik. In particular, Volgomost was convicted of cheating VTB Bank and the Avtodor state corporation out of billions of rubles. At the same time, as it turns out, the property of Volgomost PJSC is pledged to Fondservicebank until 2018. At the same time, it became known that Volgomost vouched with its assets for a number of affiliated legal entities and individuals who had obtained commercial loans from different banks. The authorship of such a combination with a “loopback” of a fraudulent business in the spirit of Badri Patarkatsishvili can only belong to one nimble rogue, whose name is well known in banking circles. This is Alexander Volovnik, for whom not so distant places have been crying for a long time.
Eduard Khoroshev (Politics.ru)
Tomorrow the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow will consider the petition of the investigative department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the arrest of the former president of Fondservisbank Alexandra Volovnik. According to investigators, the banker detained the day before may be involved in the theft of part of the 47 billion rubles placed in this bank by the state corporation "Roscosmos". The Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA), which is now the injured party in the criminal case, had to save the bank.
Employees of the Main Directorate of Economic Security and Anti-Corruption of the Ministry of Internal Affairs detained the former owner and president Fundservicebank on the morning of April 26, immediately after the search that was carried out at his home in the west of Moscow. Alexander Volovnik was taken for questioning to the investigation department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, whose employees, according to sources close to the investigation, eventually issued a resolution to bring the ex-banker as a suspect in a criminal case of fraud on an especially large scale (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code ). It was assumed that the detainee would spend the night of Thursday in the temporary detention center at Petrovka, 38, and tomorrow the Tverskoy District Court would consider the investigation’s request for his arrest for two months.
The initiator of the investigation, within the framework of which the ex-owner of Fondservisbank was detained, according to sources, is the Deposit Insurance Agency. Initially, the criminal case, which involved a well-known banker in the recent past, was conducted against “unidentified persons.” Perhaps, the interlocutor notes, the investigation would not have even developed, but after a change in the leadership of the investigation department (at the end of December last year, Alexander Romanov was appointed Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and head of the department), they decided to give it a new start.
In the criminal case, according to sources, we are talking about the events of 2015, when Fondservisbank, which was a support bank for the rocket and space industry (it served almost all the largest enterprises in the industry, their salary projects, as well as the foreign currency accounts of the state corporation itself), “stuck” for about 47 billion rubles belonging to Roscosmos.
At the same time, when the state corporation demanded to return the funds placed in the bank, representatives of its management, as sources say, explained that they could not do this, since they were invested in various projects, which is why a full return is possible only after three years.
