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Back to the “Wild Nineties”

August 1, 2016

Open-Wall---May-2016

Back to the “Wild Nineties”

A gunfight in the centre of Moscow gives the lie to President Putin’s claim that he has brought stability.

The story began back in December 2015. Businessman Andrei Kochuikov (“The Italian”), regarded as the right-hand man of crime lord Zakhary Kalashov (“Young Shakro”), arrived at Moscow’s Elements Café to squeeze out 8 million roubles from its owner (sounds like the old “wild nineties”). The owner, however, had enlisted the services of “negotiators,” one of whom was lawyer Eduard Budantsev. A former operative officer in the KGB’s 9th Directorate, Budantsev also worked for the Interior Ministry, where he oversaw the infiltration of criminal networks by secret services personnel. The showdown quickly escalated into a gunfight, with Budantsev’s men shooting two gangsters dead.

Since the shootout took place in the heart of Moscow, and led to two deaths, there was no hushing the whole thing up. The Italian was detained, charged with extortion, and sent to jail. A criminal case was opened into the murders, but Budantsev was ultimately released under house arrest.

Next comes the fun part – mafia boss Young Shakro began to look for ways to get The Italian out of jail. Exploiting his connections, he made contact with Mikhail Maksimenko, a colonel in the Moscow branch of the Investigative Committee, who agreed to free The Italian in exchange for several million dollars.

Eduard Budantsev, meanwhile, wasn’t sitting idly by either. He knew that if The Italian was made to seem an innocent lamb, he’d be held responsible for the killings, and he could thus wave goodbye to any hope of receiving the lesser charge of exceeding the limits of necessary self-defence. So, exploiting his old connections, he set the FSB against the Moscow branch of the Investigative Committee. It only remained for the FSB to turn this pretext to its own advantage.

Ten days ago, the FSB duly detained three senior investigators from the Moscow branch of the Investigative Committee, all of whom were subsequently placed under arrest by a Moscow court. The trio – Denis Nikandrov, deputy head of the agency’s Moscow branch; the aforementioned Mikhail Maksimenko; and Maksimenko’s deputy, Aleksandr Lamonov – were taken into custody over allegations that they’d received a huge bribe from, you guessed it, Young Shakro. €70,000 and $30,000 was confiscated from the detainees – together with a collection of watches worth half a million euro.

How should we interpret this? Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov has said these events are further evidence of the ongoing fight against corruption, which really is spin doctoring. Russian netizens, however, are in no doubt that the FSB was acting primarily in its own interests.

Dmitry: “The FSB was simply making it clear that it’s still the country’s major ‘enforcer,’ and the most reliable krisha [‘protection’ service].”

Fidel Roses: “And who’s going to combat corruption in the FSB? The FSB-ers are ‘protecting’ profitable businesses in every Russian city.”

Experts have made similar assessments. Tatyana Stanovaya, head of the analytical department of the Center for Political Technologies, insists that the “operation against the Investigative Committee generals is the FSB’s way of saying that ‘we’re the real power around here.’

While the FSB was sneaking up on the Investigative Committee, Colonel Maksimenko got Major-General Denis Nikandrov involved in “the Italian job.” The latter transferred The Italian’s case to the Investigation Department of the Moscow Central Administrative District, and had The Italian’s extortion charge downgraded to samoupravstvo [taking the law into one’s own hands]. As a result, the court was not asked to extend the latter’s detention – and he was almost released; only the FSB arrested Kochuikov at the gates of the detention facility … Still, “[Nikandrov’s] actions were provocative and impudent; he was clearly convinced of his own impunity,” a law enforcement source told the Rosbalt agency.

Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin, who doesn’t usually tend to hold back with his comments, waited 24 hours before making a statement after Nikandrov’s and Maksimenko’s arrests. “What has happened to our so-called colleagues is shameful and hard to take. This does, of course, cast a shadow over the Investigative Committee, but our self-purification efforts will continue!” Russian netizens found it hard to believe that Markin’s renunciation of his “so-called colleagues” was genuine.

Andrei: “Translation: It’s shameful and hard to take that our colleagues got busted. But our work to oust all competitors will continue.”

There is more: both Colonel Maksimenko and Major-General Nikandrov are members of Investigative Committee chief Alexander Bastrykin’s inner circle. Nikandrov, who had progressed up the career ladder at lightning pace, is regarded as Bastrykin’s confidant; he was frequently entrusted with matters of considerable importance for the reputation of the Investigative Committee (the casino protection racket in the Moscow region, for example, as well as the second YUKOS case, which was brought to court through his efforts). Colonel Maksimenko, for his part, spent some time working in Bastrykin’s personal protection detail.

Political analyst Stanislav Belkovsky, however, does not believe that the scandal spells the end of Bastrykin’s career: “The conflict won’t necessarily culminate in Bastrykin’s dismissal: Vladimir Putin has always supported the system of checks and balances within the security structures. If he were to be dismissed, that would mean the outright destruction of the Investigative Committee in its present form. So I’m not expecting any dismissals in the near future. Keeping a senior silovik [powerful member of the elite] on the hook by arresting his subordinates is one thing; allowing the complete obliteration of his administration is quite another. There’s a world of difference.”

And there you have it – just an everyday tale of how Putin’s Russia is run. Except that what makes this situation more dangerous, is the risk that, as the piggy bank shrinks, sooner or later the whole structure will collapse.