Material translated from:
https://putinism.wordpress.com/2016/04/21/ozero/
The world-famous Ozero (Lake) cooperative was created in November 1996. Putin and seven of his friends decided to build dachas next door, on the shores of Lake Komsomolskoye near St. Petersburg.
In 2016, this amazing (new) formation turns 20 years old. And this is no longer a dacha cooperative, but a world-class organized crime group. In the fairy tale “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, the gnomes mined gold and precious stones, and Snow White sat at home, washed, cleaned, cooked. In the "Lake" the gnomes stole, killed, sawed the budget, and Putin protected them from the side of the authorities. And portrayed Snow White on TV.
1. President of the Russian Federation Putin Mikhal Ivanych.
Five of the seven friends with whom Putin settled in the "Ozero" are businessmen, who can be called the "PTI group" - all of them in 1990-91. engaged in business at the Physico-Technical Institute. Ioffe. These are Yakunin, Kovalchuk, brothers Fursenko and Myachin. Of these, only one is a Chekist (Yakunin), the rest are former physicists. Type intelligence.
In 2016, this amazing (new) formation turns 20 years old. And this is no longer a dacha cooperative, but a world-class organized crime group. In the fairy tale “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, the gnomes mined gold and precious stones, and Snow White sat at home, washed, cleaned, cooked. In the "Lake" the gnomes stole, killed, sawed the budget, and Putin protected them from the side of the authorities. And portrayed Snow White on TV.
1. President of the Russian Federation Putin Mikhal Ivanych.
Five of the seven friends with whom Putin settled in the "Ozero" are businessmen, who can be called the "PTI group" - all of them in 1990-91. engaged in business at the Physico-Technical Institute. Ioffe. These are Yakunin, Kovalchuk, brothers Fursenko and Myachin. Of these, only one is a Chekist (Yakunin), the rest are former physicists. Type intelligence.
The PTI was the flagship of Soviet science. In the early 90s, with the blessing of director Zhores Alferov, five businessmen from the future "Ozero" created a group of firms and joint ventures (joint ventures with foreigners) at the institute. They were mainly engaged in trade - computers, scientific instruments, etc. True, at the PTI they were just starting out, then they spun up and began to work independently. But all the same warm company.
The building of the Institute of Physics and Technology at Polytechnic, 26.
Putin met these guys in 1991. They helped him pull off two of his very first scams, which later played an important role in the biography of the future president of the Russian Federation. This is the Raw Materials for Food scam and the takeover of Rossiya Bank (formerly owned by the CPSU). This gave Putin both the first big money and a place to store it. These same five friends formed the backbone of the new (already Putin's) shareholders of Rossiya Bank.
So, five of Putin's seven friends, with whom he established Ozero, are the PTI group, which is also Rossiya Bank. The two remaining summer residents are Vladimir Smirnov and Nikolai Shamalov. By the way, also intelligentsia. Smirnov in Soviet times was a researcher at LIAP (Leningrad Institute of Aviation Instrumentation), a laureate of the State Prize, and Shamalov was a dentist. Both then went into business.
If it can be called commerce, of course... One of them had his entire business connected with the Tambov organized crime group, the other with kickbacks to Putin from the supply of German medical equipment for the city.
Smirnov in the 90s. was essentially a deputy. head of the Tambov organized crime group in economics. The leader of this organized crime group, the largest in the city, was his friend and business partner Vladimir Kumarin (Kum). What they just did not stir up together. And money was washed with cocaine (SPAG company), and real estate was squeezed out, and the gasoline market in the city was seized (Petersburg Fuel Company). And in the latter case - after a series of showdowns with the use of all types of weapons. Everyone who stood in the way of Smirnov and Kuma to the PTK went straight to the cemetery.
Smirnov and Kum in their best years.
As for Nikolai Shamalov, he spent the entire 90s modestly sitting at the Siemens office in St. Petersburg. Sold equipment to city hospitals. Not forgetting to bring good kickbacks to the mayor's office for choosing the right supplier. On the basis of which he met Putin and was awarded a place in the Lake cooperative.
And in the 2000s, Shamalov also began working for Putin as a cellist. All sorts of offshore companies with billions in turnover, shares in banks and enterprises were also recorded on it. But at the same time, unlike Roldugin, he also carried out household assignments: he oversaw the construction of the palace near Gelendzhik, bought furniture there, looked after the elite vineyards. Shamalov actively attracted his sons to his business. The elder Yuri became the head of the Gazfond (the pension money of Gazprom employees, which Putin and the Rossiya bank actually privatized).
"Lake" is not without reason compared with an organized criminal group. There are Tambov, there are Solntsevo, and there are lake ones. Everything is similar here: the ringleader, sixes, specialization - who controls what and from what money collects. And there is a common fund (its own bank), and clicks even for communicating with each other.
In the 2000s two defectors from the inner circle of the Kremlin fled to the West: Dmitry Skarga and Sergei Kolesnikov. Both provided Putin with household services. Skarga (former director of Sovcomflot) in 2002 ferried the super-yacht Olympia from Europe to Sochi (Abramovich's bribe to Putin). Kolesnikov (vice-president of the Petromed company), together with Shamalov, helped build a palace near Gelendzhik.
Once in the West, Skarga and Kolesnikov spoke about the customs prevailing in the Kremlin. Both of them, in particular, gave interviews for the sensational BBC film "Putin's Secret Riches", which was released at the end of 2015.
According to Skarga and Kolesnikov, Putin among his entourage has the nickname “Mikhal Ivanych” (chief in the “Diamond Hand”) and is a real godfather. The rest are all no more than sixes, even those who are on the Forbes lists. So, Timchenko (like a billionaire) admitted to Skarga in private conversations that all his actions are "controlled by Mikhal Ivanych." Those. he is a purely nominal oligarch.
And Kolesnikov, who worked with Shamalov, once decided to challenge some order of Mikhail Ivanovich. Decided to put in my 5 cents. In response, Shamalov laid siege to him: "He is the king, you are a serf! Your work is a slave - to fulfill!"
By the way, the serf Shamalov was included in the Forbes list in 2011. And the serf son Kirill was married to the tsar's daughter in 2013, now it is a single clan of Putin-Shamalovs.
Beautiful couple, by the way. Putin has grandchildren, which will be necessary.
And here he is. Meet the king.
2. Bank-common fund
In August 1991, the GKChP coup took place in the USSR. After its failure, the former ruling party, the CPSU, was banned. At the same time, in St. Petersburg, this party had its own bank - Rossiya Bank. Its main owner was the Leningrad regional committee of the CPSU. When the CPSU was banned, the bank's activities were suspended.
In September 1991, Sobchak laid eyes on him. He issued an order to reform the bank: to select new founders for it (investors, preferably foreign ones) and create there the "Fund for Stabilizing the Economy of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region." This task was entrusted to Putin - Sobchak's deputy and head of the Committee on Foreign Relations (FAC) at the mayor's office.
The briefcase was heavy, I had to carry a lot.
Sobchak's order about the Rossiya bank was, in general, a Klondike. A bank with a license and the rest of the party money was lying on the road. Its former owners from the regional committee of the CPSU were in a hopeless situation. The question was who would go to the bank instead of them. Who gets there first. And it turned out to be businessmen from the “PTI group”.
Under the FAC, Putin had an Association of Joint Ventures. Yakunin and Kovalchuk actively hung out there. Putin contacted them, they mobilized their connections and bought the bank for themselves.
Of course, no "Economic Stabilization Fund" was created. But at the end of 1991, the five Yakunin, Kovalchuk, the brothers Fursenko and Myachin became (through firms controlled by them) the new owners of Rossiya Bank. Since then, for 25 years now, this bank has been a common wallet (of them and Putin). Or rather, in common.
In the 2000s, huge assets were collected in AB Rossiya. Sogaz, Sibur, Gazprombank, Gazprom-Media, everything that Mikhal Ivanovich dragged from Gazprom, from the budget, everything was registered with the bank and its structures.
The headquarters of AB "Russia" on the square. Rastrelli in Petersburg:
By the way, Roldugin's offshore companies were controlled from this building. All instructions to Panama about the $2 billion he was saving up for instruments for the orchestra (according to Putin) came from AB Rossiya.
Yury Kovalchuk has been in charge of the bank for many years, he (nominally) also has the largest block of shares. Kovalchuk - former physicist, laureate of the USSR State Prize, professor, nickname - "Slanting". Professor Yura Kosoi is now an oligarch and media mogul (owner of Channel One, Channel Five, NTV, Ren-TV, etc.). In 2014, the bank and personally Kosoy were sanctioned. In a US Treasury statement, Kovalchuk was described as Putin's "personal teller".
Kosoi. The keeper of the obshchak and the master of the TV.
On March 23, 2014, immediately after the imposition of sanctions, cashier Kovalchuk gave an interview to Dmitry Kiselev. He spoke about his love for Putin; about the fact that he has $15 billion worth of assets in the bank; and for some reason - about patriotism. Not a word about where the 15 billion came from in the bank, and whose they really are.
But that's nothing. Here is his neighbor on the "Lake" Yakunin in the 2000s. generally became the ideologist of patriotism. In August 2015, in his article “Globalization and Capitalism,” Yakunin wrote:
“It can be said that the ruling elite of the United States made a big mistake by placing the messianic conviction at the basis of the doctrine of globalization that they were appointed by the Lord to rule the world. As soon as the USSR disappeared, which periodically brought it to its senses, this "hegemon" in world politics broke so much firewood that, in fact, the masses of people perceive the United States as a rogue state.
In Soviet times, Yakunin was the head of the foreign department at the PTI (there was such a GB position in Soviet universities). Then the Lord appointed him head of Russian Railways. Now he is nostalgic for the USSR, which "brought to life" America. I would continue the topic. If in the USSR the head of the railways (then it was called the Ministry of Railways) built a villa with a fur coat storage, he would also be brought to his senses. Bullet in the back of the head. For theft in especially large ones at the same time there was a tower.
The main thing is that America does not capture us, you understand, right?
But back to the bank "Russia". From the "PTI group" there was also Viktor Myachin, also a former physicist and summer resident from the "Ozero". For many years he was a top manager and shareholder of the bank. But in 2009 he sold his share, bought various real estate in St. Petersburg and ... retired.
Although Myachin is the youngest of the lakes (born 1961), he has been leading the life of a retired oligarch for many years, not knowing what to do with himself. Either he crosses Greenland on snowmobiles, or he hunts rare sheep in Kyrgyzstan. Such Abramovich in miniature. Having nothing to do, he even began to play hockey in amateur tournaments.
Two more shareholders of Russia Bank from 1991 are the Fursenko brothers - Andrey and Sergey. Also lake brothers. The brothers did not achieve much success in business, but they proved themselves in other areas. Andrey Fursenko, a former professor at the FTI, has been hanging out in the government since 2000: either as a minister, or as a deputy. Minister, now - Putin's assistant for science and education. It is Fursenko who is the author of the Skolkovo project and the whole idea of nanotechnology. Well, we can go no further, I think.
The two main nanotechnologists of the country. Andrey Fursenko - on the left.
As for Andrei Fursenko's brother, Sergei, he is also a former physicist. At first he worked at Gazprom (the head of Lentransgaz), but then he got tired of it, and he went to the football part. Taxied by FC Zenit, then by the RFU. After another failure of the national team, he was removed from there. Now in the Presidential Council for Physical Education and Sports.
Of course, I foresee the question. Well, it turns out that in the Ozero cooperative there are a bunch of former scientists, two professors, winners of awards. And suddenly: there was Professor Kovalchuk, and now there is Yura "Kosoy", the holder of the obshchak. How so?
Who is surprised, I propose to look at this man with a poster:
Also a doctor of sciences (at 38), laureate of the Lenin Komsomol Prize for scientific achievements. And then he went into commerce and that's it - he became "Bereza" (Birch). And this poster he has, addressed to Putin (“I gave birth to you ...”), it is not so far from the truth:
Ironically, the conflict between Putin and Berezovsky began in 2000, when Putin took a controlling stake in ORT (Channel One) from him. Now Channel One is owned by Kovalchuk. Birch was replaced by Oblique. This is the main meaning of the reign of Michal Ivanych.
3. "Russian video". Side branch of Putin's mafia.
Speaking about the buyout of Rossiya Bank by the "PTI group" in 1991, one important detail should be kept in mind. The fact is that the communists (regional committee) were not the sole owners of the bank. They had simply the largest share (48%). The second large stake (42%) belonged to the Russian Video film studio, and another 10% were owned by small shareholders (Rus insurance company, Krasnoselskaya fur factory).
Of these former owners of the bank, only the regional committee of the CPSU in 1991 was in a stalemate. They had no choice but to give their share to those to whom the mayor's office indicated (Sobchak and Putin). The rest had no such problems.
Nevertheless, the "PTI group" took both the share of the regional committee and the share of the film studio. Small shareholders gave up their shares later. That is, Putin somehow agreed with the people from the "Russian Video" amicably. What were these people? - Pretty interesting characters. Putin collaborated with them not only in the 1991 buyout of the bank, but for many years afterwards. True, he prefers to keep quiet about what kind of cooperation it was.
This is the Soviet Screen magazine, No. 23, 1988.
There is a small note in the magazine: “Russian video” is starting.” It contains a story about a new company that has just been created under the Videofilm state association:
“Glorious news comes from Leningrad. The traditional rock festival, which took place in June of this year, was completely filmed by the recently organized Russian Video studio (by order of the All-Union Production and Creative Association Videofilm), and now this material is being edited (...) Commanded by Dmitry Rozhdestvensky, artistic director and chief director of Russian Video.
The founders of the company "Russian Video" were two childhood friends, former classmates - Dmitry Rozhdestvensky and Vladislav Reznik.
Rozhdestvensky - musician, director. Reznik is a former athlete, stuntman at Lenfilm. And besides - a mafia, a close friend of the authorities Ilya Traber (Antiquarian) and Gennady Petrov (Gena Petrov) from the Tambov-Malyshev organized criminal group. It took shape in the late 1980s. In 1989, they were divided into Tambov and Malyshev, of which the former later gained special fame, in fact becoming the largest gang in the city.
These are the friends that were (and are) the founder of Russian Video, Vladislav Reznik. And for the last 15 years, under Putin, Reznik has been a State Duma deputy of all convocations (from United Russia, of course). Since 2016, Deputy Reznik, along with Traber and Gena Petrov, has been wanted by Interpol in the case of the “Russian mafia” in Spain.
June 2008, Spain. The arrest of Gena Petrov by the Spanish police.
Well, in 1990, Russian Video, together with the regional committee of the CPSU, established the Rossiya Bank. Reznik in 1990-91 was in this bank deputy. chairman of the board. It turned out such a joint bank of the CPSU and the mafia. Since 1992, when Russian Video withdrew from the bank's shareholders, Reznik and Rozhdestvensky each went their own way. Reznik began to develop the insurance business, left for Moscow, was a top manager of Rossgosstrakh in the 90s. After an unsuccessful attempt to privatize it, he went into politics.
Deputy Reznik in the Duma.
As for Rozhdestvensky or "Dim Dimych", as he was called, he remained in the "Russian Video". But only the “Russian Video” itself has changed a lot. On its basis, a dozen and a half private firms with the same name were created, which were engaged in various types of activities (legal and illegal). Those. Russian Video has turned into a diversified concern.
The leadership has also changed. Now Rozhdestvensky managed everything in tandem with a certain Vladimir Grunin, a retired KGB colonel who oversaw the illegal part.
Russian Video is the dashing 90s in all its glory. Whatever they were doing. Here and cinema (including video piracy), and a casino. And his own TV channel - the 11th channel in St. Petersburg, now TNT. And smuggling - they had a naval base in Lomonosov on lease, where all the cargo went without customs. And more drugs, and cashed out with a cut of budget funds.
This is a well-known St. Petersburg journalist and political scientist Dmitry Zapolsky, who in the 90s worked on the Russian Video TV channel (hosted the author's program).
Dmitry knew the leadership of Russian Video well, as well as Putin, Sobchak, and many criminal leaders of the city. In an interview with Russian Monitor in 2015, Zapolsky recalled:
“In the 1990s, Putin oversaw the port of Lomonosov, it was a military base, where he had “his” admiral. And through this hole hundreds, and maybe thousands of tons of cargo were imported and exported daily without any registration. There were no customs, no border guards, no counterintelligence. Funny! Cocaine in St. Petersburg was like toothpowder. Generally everywhere. Even in Smolny, especially smart guys (...)
The port of Lomonosov itself formally belonged to the Russian Video company, which was controlled, on the one hand, by Kumarin, but was led by Mikhail Mirilashvili. The head of the company, Dmitry Rozhdestvensky, maintained warm relations with Putin, Chubais, and Narusova.”
Naval base in Lomonosov on the outskirts of the Great Port of St. Petersburg. In the 90s - the main hole in the sea border of Russia:
Putin's "own admiral" in Lomonosov is Vladimir Grishanov, commander of the Leningrad naval base in 1993-95. It was he who leased the port of Lomonosov to the bandits.
Admiral Grishanov. Commander of the Naval Forces of the Tambov organized criminal group.
Kumarin and Mirilashvili, who controlled Russian Video and the port of Lomonosov, are Kum and Misha Kutaissky, respectively, the leaders of the two largest organized crime groups in the city. The backbone of the Kuma gang was made up of athletes, the gangs of Misha Kutaisi were people from the village of Kulashi in western Georgia (the place of compact residence of Georgian Jews). Mirilashvili's father was a major guild worker in Soviet times. Such an old mafia dynasty.
Mikhail Mirilashvili in the 90s was the president (head of the Board of Directors) of Russian Video. Dim Dimych Rozhdestvensky (General Director) provided current management. Colonel Grunin looked after him. That's how they worked.
October 2015 Delegation of the Russian Jewish Congress in Israel. Prime Minister Netanyahu embraces Misha Kutaisi (far left).
Roma Tsepov:
Roma Tsepov, a former officer of the VV, was the leader of his own "Cop gang" (that was the name of the brigades from among the former policemen, security officers, VV officers, etc.). Roma knew both the main gangsters in Russian Video (both Kuma and Misha) well, and it was more convenient for Putin to work through him.
In fact, Russian Video had a so-called. "striped roof": bandits and cops / security officers in one bottle:
It remains to be added that in the early 90s Roma Tsepov cobbled together his gang together with the Chekist Zolotov (Sobchak's bodyguard, in the 2000s Putin's head of security). Now, as you know, Zolotov has a new important job - the National Guard of the Russian Federation. Such a striped cop gang for 400 thousand people.
In general, Petersburg is the birthplace of striped roofs. This is where they first appeared. Putin and Zolotov are the living embodiment of this phenomenon.
The photo below was taken in New York in August 2000. All the Chekists are here (from left to right): Zolotov (Putin's head of security), Murov (director of the FSO), Kutafin and Tretyakov (SVR residents in the USA).
Tretyakov was already working for the CIA. Soon he will become a defector. Based on conversations with him, journalist Peter Erli will write a book (“Comrade Zh”). It contains this interesting passage:
“When, in 2000, Zolotov (the leader’s guard) arrived in New York with a company, to ensure the security of the president’s visit, they were accompanied by the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service in this city, Tretyakov, and, one evening, the company went to a restaurant on Brighton Beach . There, Zolotov, according to Tretyakov, began to show off his hand-to-hand fighting skills - and, for no apparent reason, suddenly, with a flourish, hit Tretyakov in the forehead with his fist. Tretyakov flew off his chair to the floor and lost consciousness for a few seconds. Murov (head of the FSO) burst into swearing at Zolotov: “You could have killed him!” Zolotov apologized. After the visit, Tretyakov remembered the words of Deputy Murov about his boss and Zolotov - “Yes, they are all ordinary bandits there ...”
Firm "Zolotov, Kadyrov and sons". Bandits in the service of the bandit regime.
Returning to Russian Video, it is worth noting that the audience there was more colorful than just one-celled criminals like Zolotov. Both heads of the company (both Rozhdestvensky and Grunin) were seriously fond of medieval mysticism. They established their own knightly order (“The Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem”), declaring it a division of the Order of Malta in the Russian Federation. After that, they accepted each other into the “Knights of Malta”: Rozhdestvensky became the “grand prior” of the order, and Grunin became his deputy.
The Russian Video mansion on Kamenny Island was hung with symbols of all kinds of secret brotherhoods, from the Maltese to the Freemasons, under which gentlemen knights sat and resolved issues of cashing and cocaine.
Dmitry Rozhdestvensky (far left, with a glass) in the company of influential politicians of that time.
Grand Prior Dim Dimych, according to Zapolsky's memoirs, liked to drink and was constantly drunk at work. His deputy, the Knight of Malta Grunin, is described by Zapolsky as "a modest little man with a triangular belly," who in the KGB was engaged in "planning active operations." Active KGB operations are all sorts of dark things that Soviet intelligence did on the territory of foreign countries: assassinations, support for terrorists, disinformation stuffing.
According to Zapolsky, Colonel Grunin, having left the KGB, did not leave the profession. Those. worked on assassination orders. For many years, Russian Video has seen a series of strange deaths of employees associated with various illegal operations. Zapolsky counted 14 such corpses in Russian Video.
Suddenly, a completely healthy person had an asthma attack, another had a heart attack, a third had fainting while driving. When the tax police came to Russian Video in 1998 with a check, the chief accountant died abruptly. Suddenly, I fell ill with no clear reason, and even the doctors of the Military Medical Academy could not determine what the matter was. Yes, in fact, the founder and director of Russian Video, Dim Dimych, did not live long - he died at the age of 48 from a heart attack in 2002.
Rozhdestvensky's grave in St. Petersburg. A monument in the form of a piano (because a musician), a Catholic cross (because a knight of Malta), an Orthodox priest with a censer. Everything is as it should be.
In general, contract killings in gangster Petersburg with the use of SVR and GRU specialists is a separate issue. It was in St. Petersburg that hexogen was first used for explosions in residential buildings. In October 1998, Dmitry Filippov, one of the richest businessmen in the city, was killed this way. He sponsored the opposition to Yeltsin, was a friend of Seleznev, the then speaker of the State Duma from the KRPF. Possessing extensive information about the St. Petersburg criminal cases, Filippov helped the investigation of the Prosecutor General against Sobchak and his team, which had been going on since 1996. Filippov's activity also threatened Putin, who since July 1998 took over as director of the FSB.
Filippov, apparently, was expecting an assassination attempt, he went with serious guards. But the professionals did it. Hexogen was laid in the ceiling of the entrance to his house and blown up by radio signal when he entered it.
The murder was attributed to the Shutov (Titych) gang, with whom Putin and Sobchak also had long-standing scores. They killed two birds with one stone, in short. This, by the way, is "planning of active operations." Not just to kill, but to translate arrows. True, Shutov and his criminals had no motive for committing such a crime. But these are all trifles.
And a year after that, before the elections, hexogen began to explode in Moscow ...
After 2000, the organized crime group expanded in breadth and depth. Now Putin has no shortage of killers. There is a private army of Kadyrov-Zolotov (battalions "North", "South"). But it's true, bastards. Putin also has a more serious private army - Wagner PMC (Wagner Private Military Company). It is based in St. Petersburg. In 2015-16 these mercenaries became famous in the rear of the DPR-LPR, where they killed objectionable field commanders, Cossacks.
Wagner is the pseudonym of their commander, Spetsnaz Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Utkin. It so happened that in his views Utkin is a Nazi and a fan of the Third Reich, hence the "Wagner" (the composer who sang "Aryan" pagan mysticism). Wagners and Kadyrovtsy are private armies of the times of developed Putinism. These are no longer the killer brigades from the 90s. This is a new step.
In general, in a developed mafia state, private armies are normal. For example, in Colombia, the mafia also has its own armies. The Cali cartel had a private army, Los Pepes, in the 90s. She fought with the PMCs of the Medellin cartel. For what? - For the right to supply cocaine to the port of Lomonosov as well. Why is Putin's organized crime group worse than Medellin? - Yes, she is cooler!
4. Raw materials in exchange for theft
On April 25, 2005, in the Kremlin's Marble Hall, Mikhal Ivanych gave a speech to the Federal Assembly:
In it he said, in part:
“The collapse of the Soviet Union was the biggest geopolitical catastrophe of the century. For the Russian people, it has become a real drama ... "
Well, and further there, how the Russian people suffered during the collapse of the USSR, how they became impoverished, how “oligarchic groups”, acting for their own selfish purposes, robbed them, etc. The speech was interrupted by applause 26 times. Deputy Reznik from the Malyshevskaya organized crime group gave a standing ovation (just kidding).
Everything is fine, but there is a legitimate question: what did Mikhail Ivanovich himself do at the turn of 1991-92, when the USSR collapsed? Probably, he didn’t sleep at night, he was worried. Such a disaster all around! I propose to take a closer look at the affairs of the vice-mayor of St. Petersburg Putin in the winter of 1991-92.
At the end of 1991, this man was passing through St. Petersburg:
This is American photographer Dick Arnold. Former military pilot, Vietnam War veteran. In that war, the Americans fought with North Vietnam, and in fact - with the USSR, which stood behind it. It was a "hot" episode of the long-term Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States.
Dick Arnold came to St. Petersburg when the Cold War was coming to an end. The USSR lived out its last days. Arnold walked around the city, filmed the lines for bread, the downcast faces of the vanquished, the devastation. About how Soviet photojournalists walked around Berlin in May 1945.
He called this photo: “All day in line” (all day in line).
But his most striking impression was this woman (second from right), whom he saw in line for bread.
Many years later, Dick Arnold said that he remembered this look for the rest of his life.
Yeah. A man stood (was forced to stand!) in line for food. 46 years after the war in the USSR, in Leningrad, there was again nothing to eat. The queue was a humiliation. And then there's the foreign photographer. The woman struggled to maintain her dignity in this, in general, shameful situation. “If looks could kill, she would have killed me,” Arnold recalled.
Then he tried to go into the store to take pictures of the people and the empty shelves inside. He was nearly beaten. “I was forced to flee,” he says.
This could very well be. In 1990-91. in the USSR, people in queues often lost their human appearance, fights and aggression broke out. A foreigner from a well-fed America who came to take pictures, like an excursion to a zoo or a cabinet of curiosities, could fall under a hot hand.
Leningrad, November 1990. Wine shop near Five Corners.
The disappearance of lines for bread and vodka in Russia after 1991 is the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century. We all mourn that great era.
The agony of the USSR ended on December 25, 1991. Around seven in the evening, Gorbachev announced his resignation, and half an hour later two tipsy workers from the Kremlin's servants climbed onto the roof of the Grand Kremlin Palace and removed the red flag. There were no honors or ceremonies. Truly an inglorious end.
The end of the USSR did not cause any emotions in anyone. The people were muzzled with queues, poverty, a mess. The former government was completely bankrupt.
Well, something like this, yes:
And only Mikhal Ivanovich did not sleep that night. Sobbed. A catastrophe, terrible, geopolitical, was coming and forcing him to act before it was too late. As early as December 4, 1991, he wrote a letter to Moscow, to the government, with business proposals.
It is clear from Putin's letter to Moscow that he is eager to save his native city from starvation. There are heaps of raw materials in warehouses in the Leningrad Region, he writes. Oil products, metals, timber. Do not waste good. Let's push it all abroad. And I will spend the money on buying food for the city. Promise! But most importantly, give me the right to issue export licenses myself.
As soon as Moscow gave the go-ahead, Putin immediately developed a frantic activity. He put together a group of specially selected people (friends, colleagues in the KGB, classmates at the university) and began to issue them licenses to export raw materials. Some were carrying oil products, others - aluminum, others - rare metals, timber, etc.
True, the firms to which he gave licenses were somehow strange. Or in general, the left, which then simply could not find (and the money too). Or they seem to be normal, but with such prices in contracts that raw materials were sold almost for nothing. For example, rare metals were exported by an office called "Jikop". Below is an expert assessment of the prices for metals in the contract with her, which was made later by the deputy commission of the Petrosoviet (the so-called Salie commission):
Niobium - the price is underestimated by 7 times, cerium - by 10 times, scandium - by 2000 times. Why did Putin and his PIC sign contracts on such strange terms? - To steal money. Together with especially close businessmen, of course.
By the way, "Jikop" is the company of Putin's classmate at Leningrad State University Ilham Ragimov from Azerbaijan. Now, as usual, he is a billionaire, co-owner of the largest Moscow markets and hotels. And it all started with scandium.
Interestingly, the licenses for "Jicop" and all the rest were issued by Putin's FAC for a rather narrow period of time: from 12/20/1991 to 01/13/1992. It can be said that Putin did not rest during those New Year holidays. He was in a hurry to make money on the "biggest geopolitical catastrophe of the century."
Below is the very first license of Putin's FAC dated 12/20/1991. It was given to the Nevsky Dom company for the export of 150,000 tons of oil products to England for a total of $ 32 million:
As can be seen from the license, the refinery in Kirishi (Leningrad region) was the producer of petroleum products. At that time, Gennady Timchenko was in charge of export there. An experienced person in foreign trade, a Chekist, a friend of Mikhal Ivanych. But come on: it was not the plant itself that sent 150,000 tons of oil products to England, but an unknown intermediary company Russkiy Dom. Documents from her were signed by certain Witenberg and Rusakov.
In 2008, when Timchenko was already a dollar billionaire, the Financial Times wrote about these deliveries through Nevsky Dom. Timchenko was indignant, made a refutation:
“The article says that I owned a company that “received a large export quota in Putin’s scandalous oil-for-food scheme.” I repeat - not me. The company that received the quota was, again, the state-owned Kirishineftekhimexport, of which I was an employee. I did not participate in this scheme. I don't remember any scandal. As far as I remember, the company delivered the food as promised.”
Chekist Timchenko has something with his memory. At the beginning of 1992, Marina Salier's commission found out that the Kirishi diesel fuel and gasoline went abroad, but not through Kirishineftekhimexport (the official exporter at the plant), but through the left-wing company Nevsky Dom. Neither she nor the money was ever seen again. To whom Vova Putin gave the right to export oil products was not clear. Without the help of the investigating authorities in any case.
Chekist Gena Timchenko, nicknamed "Gangrene". In Putin's team since 1991.
We must pay tribute to the abilities of Michal Ivanych. The scam went well. Putin and his companions stole about 100 million dollars. Yes, but... after all, it was a half-starved city where people stood in lines for bread.
The question arises: in that situation in December 1991, who behaved more worthily - a simple woman in line in front of the lens of a foreign photographer or the Chekist marauder Putin, who tried to rob her in the end?
And what is most ridiculous, then this same KGB marauder also began to tell her on TV about the "major geopolitical catastrophe." On which he made the biggest loot. Bad situation, yes. This morality is called Chekism.
By the way, the guys from the future “Lake” also participated in that Raw Materials in Exchange for Food scam. In July 2001, Italian journalists published in the Reppublika newspaper a major investigation into Putin's affairs in the 1990s. Including the scam with raw materials. According to the Italians, Vladimir Smirnov was among its participants, he assisted in the export of oil products.
Other future summer residents were also seen there, namely the NPP Quark company (aka Stream Corporation since 1992). NPP Quark is Yakunin, Kosoy and the whole company. These guys helped with the export of aluminum and other metals. Like it or not, the Lakers started out as a gang of marauders. But why did you start? - They have remained so.
During the collapse of the USSR, Putin was an ordinary marauder, in the 90s - an ordinary bandit, after 2000 - an ordinary dictator of the Third World. And his lake lads followed him...