Antarctic and Arctic researcher, Soviet scientist, specialist in the field of oceanology Artur Chilingarov became the first vice-president of the Geographical Society and president of the State Polar Academy. He is also a Doctor of Science and Professor, a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences since 2006, and a Hero of the Soviet Union since 1986. Russia also awarded the researcher the title of Hero of the Russian Federation in 2008. Artur Chilingarov received the USSR State Prize in 1981 for expeditions to the pole. He is also an honored meteorologist of the country. Political activity also did not bypass Artur Chilingarov. He worked in the State Duma for almost ten years, starting in 1993, and was a member of the Federation Council from 2011 to 2014. Now he works in the bureau of the Supreme Council of United Russia. There is hardly a person in the country who does not know who Artur Chilingarov is.
Biography
Just before the war, the future explorer of the Arctic and Antarctic was born - in 1939. In a city that went through incredible difficulties and became a hero city - Leningrad. Artur Chilingarov, at the age of two, found himself together with the rest of Leningraders in the blockade. The little boy was one of the few who managed to survive those terrible nine hundred days. The boy's mother is Russian, and his father is Armenian. This is how his biography began. Artur Chilingarov is, therefore, half Armenian by nationality, and he was apparently drawn to the Caucasus by the call of blood, like his father, so the whole family lived for some time in Ordzhonikidze (now Vladikavkaz). North Ossetia remained in my memory for the rest of my life, but our hero was always truly interested in travel, especially to the North. Therefore, after graduating from school, the student period began, and the biography of Artur Chilingarov was replenished with information about his studies at the Leningrad Higher Naval Engineering School (now the Admiral Makarov Maritime Academy). He decided to become an oceanographer. And he did, graduating from this glorious educational institution in 1963.
Then work began. Perhaps his nationality made itself felt - the biography of Artur Chilingarov did not show career growth for many years, the positions were always ordinary. But how interesting! Apparently, the scientist himself did not want to part with this work. He was a researcher at the Research Institute of the Arctic and Antarctic, worked in a laboratory as a hydrological engineer in Tiksi, and studied the mouth of the Lena River, the oceanic atmosphere and the ocean itself - the Arctic. However, his initiative, great organizational skills and ability to make friends with people were noticed, noted and taken into account. At the very beginning of the seventies, my career took off. The system of the country's State Committee for Hydrometeorology took him through all levels of the career ladder: from the position of a small boss in Amderma to work as deputy chairman of the committee. Artur Chilingarov did not join the Communist Party in his youth, but in 1965 he was the first and only non-party secretary of the Komsomol district committee in Yakutia during the entire existence of the Komsomol.
Pole by pole
In 1969, a two-year scientific expedition at high latitudes “North-21” took place, and it was headed by Artur Nikolaevich Chilingarov. Photos of his northern campaigns are numerous and eloquent. Over time, his children, both son and daughter, visited these fabulous places. Almost the whole family fell in love with the beauty of the polar latitudes. The biography of Artur Chilingarov indicates Armenian nationality, and the children received as a gift from their father this hot blood, which the north is not afraid of.
His wife Tatyana Aleksandrovna looks like Snow White - natural blonde, white-skinned, light-eyed. The children are also beautiful, but they are all like their father - dark-skinned and temperamental. But children will appear much later, when both poles have already been conquered. The expedition lasted until 1972, the results of which substantiated the possibility of using it year-round and throughout its entire duration. This was followed by a trip to Antarctica, where he would work at the Bellingshausen station as the head of the seventeenth Soviet expedition to Antarctica.
Children
In 1974, a son appeared, Nikolai Arturovich Chilingarov, and it was necessary to raise him. Therefore, until 1979, the young father served as the head of the Amderma department and was engaged in hydrometeorology and environmental control. Then his career quickly took off: the personnel department, educational institutions in the board of the USSR State Committee precisely in this specialty, which over time would bring him the title “Honored Meteorologist of the Russian Federation.” In 1982, Arthur’s daughter was born, who saw her father in early childhood much less often than her son.
Because expeditions began again, one more remarkable than the other, one more necessary than the other, including the leader on the nuclear-powered icebreaker "Siberia" to the North Pole itself, and then there was a transcontinental flight to Antarctica. What a joy it was for the girl when her father visited her with stories about polar bears and funny penguins! The famous Arctic and Antarctic explorer Arthur Chilingarov’s daughter Ksenia was truly happy. And so she grew up under the mighty shadow of her father’s glory. She didn’t graduate from school as an excellent student, but she still entered MGIMO. Character had an impact.
Government job
In 1999, an ultra-long flight on a Mi-26 helicopter took place to the central regions of the Arctic Ocean, where Chilingarov conducted many studies, and at the same time rotary-wing aircraft showed their true capabilities. In 2001, he was a curator at an international conference on Arctic problems in Brussels. The European Union, Russia, the USA, and Canada took part in it. And it was Artur Chilingarov who represented the interests of the country there. The photo shows a powerful, seasoned man with a thick and thick (and probably warm in the areas of the North and South Poles) beard, who in 2002 was supposed to lead the flight of a light single-engine An-3T aircraft to the Pole. But this idea did not find success. The plane was brought to Antarctica disassembled and delivered in parts on a large Il-76 aircraft. They wanted to show that it was possible to use light equipment in the ice of Antarctica, but that was not the case.
Russia at that moment was noticeably curtailing its presence on this continent, and it was not possible to reverse this process. The An-3T was assembled, but the engine did not start: the air was thin and too cold. So this car remained at the South Pole for several years. Then she was repaired, she started up and went under her own power to the coast. But the expedition still took place: the Americans helped out. The family of Artur Nikolaevich Chilingarov again began to see the head of the family extremely rarely. He organized excursions to the North Pole and tried to interest the public in the study and development of these territories. Many and completely different people were interested in extreme tourism; some landed on the glacier directly with their children.
Influence
It was Chilingarov who influenced the events that resulted in the opening of the long-term drifting station "Sp-32". It should be remembered that back in 1991, all Arctic research programs were curtailed. In 2007, two of the most striking expeditions to the North Pole took place. The head of the FSB flew with Artur Chilingarov in a helicopter. They landed on the spot and in August sank with a group of researchers to the ocean floor. We went beyond the Mir submersible and hoisted the Russian flag in the North Pole area right at the bottom. It was a real feat - both dangerous and beautiful. And in 2008, new research allowed Chilingarov to be elected at a general meeting as a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
In the alarming April of 2011, it was Artur Chilingarov who led a dangerous expedition to the Far East to study the impact of the disaster at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant on the fauna and flora of this region. The scientist was very indignant at the Greenpeace extremists who tried to infiltrate our oil platform with their banner. And indeed, there are so many important things in the world; it would be better to study the Gulf Stream, which almost died as a result of the actions of the Americans, and protest against such barbaric oil production. And in 2013, the Olympic flame shone at the North Pole - this is where the relay of the Sochi Winter Games led it. This was probably one of the most important records of the Olympics, since it is significant that Russia can now get to any point in the harsh ocean at any time.
Politics and social work
As already mentioned, Arthur Nikolaevich was involved in parliamentary activities for almost ten years, working in the Federal Assembly from 1993 to 2011. He was elected at the request of his beloved northern friends from the Nenets electoral district. He was Deputy Chairman of the State Duma. And now he willingly joined the party, even more than one. First ROPP (industrial party), then United Russia. And he was also elected president of the Russian Association of Polar Explorers. Artur Chilingarov gave several very significant interviews in September-October 2017, where he emphasized that Russia will not yield leadership to anyone in the development of the richest region of the world - the Arctic. The whole country learned with admiration that it would become wider and deeper, involving the most significant names in the scientific world. At these important moments for the country, Artur Nikolaevich Chilingarov did not speak on behalf of his famous research name. The Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for Antarctica and the Arctic, for international cooperation in the development of these territories, could not say otherwise.
Most of all, he emphasized in his interviews the most important intention to continue scientific Arctic research in order to solve practical problems, such as emergency spills and ice wiring and, of course, an in-depth analysis of the processes of change in the Arctic in the future, assessing these changes and searching for ways to adapt. He spoke practically about the same thing in his report at the Eighth International Meeting of the states that are members of the Arctic Council, as well as observer countries and the scientific community. International cooperation in science has always been a priority. Chilingarov also signed an agreement regarding the strengthening of international scientific cooperation in the Arctic, which made it possible to begin the implementation of the polar initiative, which has been developed for many years.
Plans
In November 2017, it is planned to organize the drifting research station "Sp-41". For this purpose, an entire icebreaker will be frozen into the ice so that polar explorers have the best working conditions and the safest base. The scientist also invited foreign specialists to take part in these studies. Artur Chilingarov is an undisputed authority in polar research; he has more than fifty scientific publications. He was even included in the Guinness Book of Records because he is the only person in the world who managed to visit both the South Pole and the North Pole within six months. The present and future of the Arctic will require an open dialogue between the public, government and business, since interests here for the most part lie at the intersections of different industries. The main thing is to maintain the national interests of our country.
The fundamentals of Russian state policy in the Arctic up to 2020 have already been approved by the president, and a longer term has also been outlined. There are unresolved basic issues: improving transport accessibility, implementing energy projects. And in parallel, the following are already emerging: support zones, their development, single-industry towns, industrial cooperation, modern communication systems, environmental conservation (and it is so fragile in the Arctic!), and the development of eco-tourism. The quality of life in high latitudes also leaves much to be desired. However, the most important thing is Arctic science, education, the introduction of technology and cooperation between different countries.
Diversity of Interests
The Arctic agenda requires the participation of all key players. Chilingarov always listens with great attention to initiatives and proposals that can contribute to the development of the northern regions. A variety of people and organizations are always willing to work with the polar explorers’ association. These are PJSC VTB, MMC Norilsk Nickel, Gazprom Neft and many, many others. The President of ASPOL is a person respected by all, of whom the country is proud. But he willingly helps enthusiasts with both advice and deeds. For example, at the moment, Fyodor Konyukhov, a famous traveler, together with Artur Chilingarov, is trying to find an enterprise that can build a deep-sea bathyscaphe for descent into the Mariana Trench - the deepest point of the ocean floor.
The project is not easy. The device was designed to be three-seater. Now they travel to research institutes, talk, and see what the golden hands of local craftsmen are capable of. The exact dates for this dive have not yet been established. The Russian Geographical Society has already taken this project under its auspices. We need not just a record - we need research, scientific experiments, taking soil samples from two different tectonic plates - the Pacific and the Philippine, and therefore the crew must remain at the bottom for a long time, at least forty-eight hours. Perhaps next year the expedition will take place, the deadline is 2019. In addition to conducting scientific research, divers will install a stone cross at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
Arctic shelf and Antarctic iceberg
The Arctic shelf has not yet been recognized as Russian, but Chilingarov hopes by 2020 to present evidence that will convince the world that we are right. The UN Commission on the Law of the Sea is currently considering two applications submitted by the Russian Federation. A third one is being prepared. The matter of considering them is not a quick one, especially since at stake is a million and another two hundred thousand square kilometers of the Arctic, which we claim. Ten years ago, a team of polar researchers led by Artur Chilingarov had already conquered the “true pole”, finding the coveted point of intersection of the meridians by diving to the bottom in bathyscaphes. But the main goal of this expedition was to study the Arctic shelf, the Lomonosov Ridge and establish the ownership of these territories.
The whole world is concerned about the iceberg breaking off from the Antarctic continent, and the Russian oceanographer needs not only to worry, but to establish surveillance of this colossus. An event of truly planetary scale. Where will this trillion tons move from the Larsen Glacier? Will an iceberg interfere with fishermen or shipping? What will be the impact (and it will definitely be!) on the environment? This greatly depends on the trajectory of its movement. - Artur Chilingarov’s great love is the same as the study of the Arctic.
Family today
A little has already been said about the family: about the beauty of Tatyana Alexandrovna Chilingarova, about the fact that both son Nikolai, born in 1974, and daughter Ksenia, born in 1982, are very similar to their father. Ksenia Arturovna Chilingarova, the daughter of Artur Nikolaevich Chilingarov, is a public person, she talks a lot about her family, her childhood, and her attitude towards her parents. As a child, she perceived the bearded man who rarely appeared in the house with gifts as Santa Claus. And always, from the very first years of his life, I understood that he was doing something huge, for the whole world. And the children were brought up in strictness. Armenian blood will never overcome conservative views. Both son and daughter were aimed at obtaining a profession - this is first and foremost. And also for family life. The first one worked. After a trip with her father to the North Pole, Ksenia decided to create her own line of winter clothing.
Artur Chilingarov's son Nikolai graduated from the Institute of Foreign Languages. Maurice Thorez in Moscow. He knows how to translate simultaneously, but works in the project financing department of Vneshprombank as a head. In addition, he is vice-president of the Polar Explorers Association. I also traveled a lot - both with my father and without him. Owns almost twenty percent of the shares of Vneshneprombank, and this bank has considerable assets. Nikolai hates monotony, and therefore he perceives every trip as a holiday. For a change, I worked in the fur trade for a while, but for some reason it didn’t work out. He likes it better in the bank. And for the expedition to the South Pole, Nikolai was awarded the Order of Friendship.
The Chairman of the Civil Committee of St. Petersburg, one of the leaders of the St. Petersburg opposition, Olga Kurnosova, proposed adding a new person to the Magnitsky List. She considered it appropriate to include in the list retired lieutenant colonel Alexei Darkov, who is called in the media the “accomplice” of the notorious investigator Artem Kuznetsov. Kurnosova addressed the corresponding statement to the ambassadors of a number of European countries and the United States. The reason for the appeal was the article “Thieves will join the “list” of those not allowed to travel abroad,” published in the online publication Lentacom.ru http://www.lentacom.ru/news/20589.html
“A fundamentally important touch: Darkov’s long-term connection with Kuznetsov, who played one of the key roles in the ominous “Magnitsky case.” Data from a journalistic investigation suggest that the contacts between Darkov and Kuznetsov were at least “shadow” in nature and related, in particular, to corrupt financial schemes. Darkov’s connections with outright criminals outlined in the article are also significant,” the oppositionist notes in her letter to the ambassadors of the EU countries and the United States.
Kurnosova believes that the article gives grounds to supplement the “Magnitsky list” with the name of Darkov - at least until all the circumstances of his connections with Kuznetsov are clarified. “The information contained in the article once again demonstrates how entangled the Russian Federation is in a web of criminal corruption that stretches back to the times of the USSR. People from punitive agencies play a special role in the system of organized crime and bureaucratic corruption,” says Kurnosova.
Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky died in November 2009 in the hospital of the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center. He was accused of tax evasion, however, according to representatives of the fund, the case was fabricated by Russian law enforcement officers. The Magnitsky List is a list of Russian officials who have violated human rights in Russia. These people are supposed to be denied entry into Western countries. We are also talking about freezing accounts in European and American banks.
Aircraft mine pornography
The lives of retired law enforcement officers are different. Some continue to serve in parallel departments. Others retire, write memoirs and enjoy life. Still others drink bitter. But there are also those who do not give up their business, essentially. Resignation only frees them from the annoying need to pretend to be something other than who they were, and frees their hands for a very profitable shadow business. Alexey Evgenievich Darkov is one of these retirees.
He was born in May 1958 and led a life full of adventures, about which he now writes stories for the edification of posterity. He runs his own blog on the Internet. Some of the stories on this blog may seem very interesting if you know some of the specifics of the work of the author of these stories. For example, Darkov writes how in 1995 a dealer in Argentine revolvers was detained. The reader is presented with the image of a valiant officer involved in the most dangerous area - the fight against organized crime. Moreover, the fight against weapons traffic. It’s both interesting (what man doesn’t like weapons!) and educational. It turns out that Aeroflot stewards were supplying weapons to the criminal leaders of Krasnodar. The scheme, as they say, is in action, “live”, and even from an eyewitness.
Or, for example, Darkov writes about the arrest of a certain Moscow bartender selling grenade launchers and machine guns. The blog reader, with bated breath, follows the vicissitudes of the show, specially organized for the purpose of apprehending a dangerous bandit. He greedily swallows details about the cooperation between the police and the security of VimpelCom (which supplied the anti-mafia fighters with cell phones that were rare for the mid-90s). And having learned that 22 kilograms of ammonite were stored in the bartender’s basement, “enough for only the foundation of the Main Internal Affairs Directorate building to remain,” the reader undoubtedly realizes what risk Darkov and his colleagues exposed themselves to. There is no question who is the hero here.
The weapon theme, apparently, has always been Alexey Evgenievich’s strong point. His memories of the experience of confiscation of weapons begin back in 1984. True, at that time we were talking about very small quantities of deadly goods. A Czechoslovak pistol and an aircraft mine – that’s the operatives’ entire catch. The fact that, in addition to weapons, “the criminal was selling pornographic magazines” is also somewhat out of trend. But that’s why a villain is a villain, to be a villain in everything.
However, knowing the ever-loving tendency of the valiant Soviet-Russian police to collect all the “penalties” into one criminal case of a person caught doing something, one can guess the reasons for such a wide spread - from porn magazines to airliners - in the interests of a businessman. All that remains is to find out what comes first – the weapon or the “strawberry”. That is, what the criminal actually traded, and what appeared in hindsight. And then the answer: Darkov used children to make, in modern terms, a control purchase of a porn magazine.
The children bought the magazine and started looking at the pictures(it’s a good test purchase!). They were caught doing this by police officers “passing by.” And there, based on a tip, they found the unlucky merchant. Consequently, weapons appeared later - when it was necessary to hide the ends of some unsolved crimes. Or your own schemes.
And yet Darkov seems to have nothing to do with it. Not counting the possible embellishment of his own professional biography. But ask a fisherman about his catch and he will twist his arms to reveal the size of the rudd he caught. Who is without sin?
The times of Soviet shoulder straps
But there is a hidden side to the story of the weapons catch, which is not customary to talk about now. If times of blessed stagnation are compared with the present, it is only in favor of the former. By default, under the general secretaries, “there was no such mess.” True, not so long ago I reluctantly had to admit: there were bandits, serial killers, and sexual maniacs in the Soviet Union (it would be somehow strange to ignore the memories of old MUR members). But these are exceptions that only prove the rule, right? But the Soviet police are a completely different matter. The police were infallible.
It is not difficult to guess who benefits from imposing this image on naive ordinary people. After all, the official biographies of many of today’s high-ranking “police gentlemen” began precisely in those times. Having accepted the social order, the propaganda machine began to spin at full speed.
As for Alexei Darkov personally, he began his glorious journey under the USSR Minister of Internal Affairs Nikolai Shchelokov. In his memoirs, Darkov speaks enthusiastically about him and with all his might defends the boss from “dirty slander” and “outright slander.” At the same time, not a word was said about the reason for Shchelokov’s suicide on December 13, 1984 and about his high-profile case, which became the “lightning of perestroika.”
Nikolai Anisimovich Shchelokov was personally friends with Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev. Which allowed him to hide the shadow sides of his activities for the time being. However, ever since clods of earth were thrown onto the lid of the Secretary General's coffin in November 1982, he began to have troubles. Did Shchelokov know that Yuri Andropov, who participated in the funeral, was also ruining his career?
As we now know, as a result of an investigation into the activities of the former head of the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs, facts were revealed that he had misappropriated state property worth almost a quarter of a million rubles (at that time a huge amount of personal theft). And the same amount of damage results from Shchelokov’s arbitrariness. For example, a two-part documentary film about his life, filmed by his own order at public expense, cost the treasury 50 thousand rubles. Anyone who remembers the prices of that time knows what this figure means - about 625 thousand dollars at the then exchange rate. Antiques, paintings, official Mercedes in the possession of the ministerial family, diamonds, other luxury items... Not counting flowers sent to the addresses of “very close ones” (Shchelokov was very woman-loving), bought for next to nothing in a special “family” store (closed for outsiders) imports, repairs at the expense of the same state. The list is impressive.
Many items of this kind were indeed found in Shchelokov’s apartment and dacha. What's the point of covering up for a corrupt official? But Darkov, without motivating his position, rushes to defame the accusers: “You’re not worth his little finger. He is respected by all veteran circles and intelligentsia of the CIS. In his homeland in Ukraine, streets in two cities are named after him. The museum is open. He fought with dignity in the Great Patriotic War and restored the country's destroyed economy. He was not convicted."
Yes, indeed, Shchelokov fought. Like any other party member at headquarters: he looked after the fighters. He was a guardian of “high communist morality” at the front. Yes, indeed, he restored the economy, although he started in 1945 as the chief political officer of Transcarpathia. Suppressed Ukrainian resistance to the power of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). Yes, the museum and the streets exist. And what? There are now five museums of Stepan Bandera in Ukraine, and there are dozens of monuments to this enemy of Shchelokov.
As for certain “veteran circles” that Darkov refers to, they sometimes try to whitewash not only Shchelokov. Veterans of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)-CPSU stand up in defense of such an odious figure of the Brezhnev era as Grigory Romanov. How can their arguments be trusted after this? Which, by the way, boil down to one thing: all fabrications, slandered by enemies. And, apparently, at the same time they hung Shchelokov’s dacha with antiques.
But Darkov’s nostalgia for the times of Shchelokov’s omnipotence may also be generated by a very gloomy circumstance. Not only the mutual guarantee of the police. According to some information received from the very veterans of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to which Darkov refers, Minister Shchelokov had a special team of killers. These people, on the orders of the boss, eliminated his personal enemies. In particular, the murder of actress Zoya Fedorova and the disappearance of antique dealer Garig Basmadzhan are associated with them.
The personal involvement of Alexey Darkov in the actions of this group has not been proven. Most likely, he had nothing to do with her - he was not the same age. But who knows what other secrets Shchelokov took to the grave, having made holes in his ceremonial uniform with a personalized hunting rifle? And since the minister himself allowed himself to do this, lawlessness often occurred on the ground, not inferior to the “dashing nineties.” Consider the same case with an aircraft mine seized from a small pornography dealer. However, the templates used by Darkov to add the necessary details to this story are long outdated. They seem to have been copied from the series “The Investigation is Conducted by Experts” (also, by the way, sanctioned by Shchelokov). Anyone who knows Darkov will understand his interest in weapons issues.
Zheglov's means, Dark's goals
According to Alexey Evgenievich himself, he began his service in the Kuntsevo police department. For a short time in 1984, he held the position of senior criminal investigation officer for the prevention of juvenile crimes. It was then that the incident with the “gunsmith pornographer” happened. Darkov’s somewhat strange understanding of his powers at that time should not be surprising.
However, it was the weapon that arose under the porn magazine that pushed Darkov’s career into growth. “Zheglov’s method” worked - the detective, glorified by cinema, also did not disdain to plant “evidence”. True, he limited himself more and more to wallets, and for a purpose that, with a stretch, can still be considered good. Darkov clearly did not intend to imprison the ill-fated pornography dealer for a long time. Throwing ammunition at a petty offender - firing a cannon at sparrows. But this whole mysterious story makes sense if we accept the version of hiding ends.
Who was killed with the discovered pistol, in what showdown it was exposed, we, unfortunately, will no longer know. We won’t know from which warehouse the aircraft mine was stolen or for whom it was intended. Nevertheless, Darkov clearly liked the algorithm. And later, after his transfer to the police department, he had the opportunity to use it more than once. There was nothing particularly shameful in such a scheme in those hard times. An employee of the Organized Crime Control Department, who hid his face for filming, openly justified such actions in the early 2000s: “Those were the times, there was a war going on. But in war, the concept of the applicability and inapplicability of blows below the belt takes on a completely different meaning.” Darkov could repeat these words.
Between bandits and thieves
In the late 1980s, Alexey Darkov was thrown into the whirlpool of the fight against organized crime. Here's what it looks like in his words.
“In 1987, the 11th Department of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department was created to combat dangerous manifestations of gang violence. recidivism and organized crime." Locally in district departments, the most experienced detectives are assigned to work in this area. In the Kuntsevo district police department, where I had moved by that time, this job was assigned to Anatoly Fedorovich Shershebnev, who had served on the wanted list for about 20 years. The time was perestroika. Society was restructured, the beginnings of business and private property appeared. Crime also changed. Organized groups made themselves known more and more often. This was especially noticeable to me when solving premeditated murders, robberies and robberies. In 1987, there was a sharp jump in murders and other violent crimes. The vector of crime development has leaned towards serious crimes. The attacks became more and more daring.
By the end of 1988, ministry analysts came to the conclusion that there was organized crime in the country, and therefore it was necessary to create a service to combat this phenomenon. The 6th Directorate is being created in the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. ORBs are created locally. In Moscow, on the basis of the 11th department, the Department for Combating Organized Group Crime (OBOGP) is being created. The police department creates groups of two people.
In mid-1989, I was asked to head this department at the Kuntsevsky District Department of Internal Affairs. Igor Mikhailovich Trach was appointed my partner. And, since the line of serious ones was also left behind me, they were allowed to recruit a group of the best operatives in the area. The choice fell on Yuri Grigorievich Gergel, Sergei Leonidovich Tomillo, Nikolai Dmitrievich Sheremetyev and Leonid Vladimirovich Rakogon. Later, Alexander Vladimirovich Podolny joined the group. The oldest of us, Sergei Tomillo, was 36 years old.
About a year later, I was taken to the OBOGP CID of the Moscow City Executive Committee. A year and a half later, I was already appointed senior detective for particularly important cases. During this period, Sergei Valentinovich Lomov worked with me in the group. I became friends with him from the first days of coming to the MUR. Later Leonid Rakagon joined the group. This is how our trio arose, which survived until the last days at RUOP, where our department was transformed.”
Let us note that analysts always knew about the existence of organized crime in the USSR. It did not disappear anywhere after 1917. Rather, on the contrary, it blossomed in full bloom precisely in the conditions of the “triumph of social justice.” However, let's get back to specifics. Let's reread it more carefully: “The 6th department is being created in the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. ORBs are created locally. In Moscow, on the basis of the 11th department, the Department for Combating Organized Group Crime (OBOGP) is being created. The police department creates groups of two people. In mid-1989, I was asked to head this department at the Kuntsevsky District Department of Internal Affairs.”
The 6th Directorate, where Darkov served, dealt with organized criminal communities. From Soviet thieves in law to the new generation of gangsters. A comprehensive database was created. Both at the MUR and at the Kuntsevsky District Department of Internal Affairs, Darkov developed precisely this direction. By the way, he confuses the dates: the 11th department of the MUR was created not in 1987, but in 1986. But these are details. It’s more interesting to make sure that there wasn’t a certain Axis in his biography? And some “Orekhovsky” ones?
This is not an idle question. The charge of such connections is very serious. It’s not for nothing that Darkov denies it so vehemently.
In the late 1980s, the Orekhovo-Zuevskaya organized crime group was formed. Its leader Sergei Timofeev (Sylvester) quickly became the object of universal hatred among competing factions. His colleague Sergei Butorin (Osya) took advantage of this and blew up Sylvester along with his Mercedes in 1994, deciding to take his place. Alexey Darkov helped him. Not directly, of course, but very effectively.
Starting around 1993 (and possibly earlier, since Sylvester’s arrest in 1989), Darkov and Butorin were brought together by common interests. When the presumptuous Osya began to chop off heads left and right for the slightest offense, he naturally gained a reputation as a quick “non-tenant.” And he received practical advice from Darkov: to stage his own murder. Then undergo plastic surgery and hide abroad.
Interacting with Osya, Darkov fine-tuned the use of an effective technique. In case the next target of the Axis, literally walking over corpses, was too well guarded, he sent operatives of the 5th department of the RUOP (where he was deputy chief). The person indicated by Osya was detained. After a short investigation, the detainee left the police. And he became a victim of the waiting “Orekhovsky” brothers. This was done, of course, not for free. It was not without reason that they said that in the 90s, the RUBOP could afford a car in a year, and a little later, an apartment. One can only guess what the deputy head of the department could afford.
Darkov also collaborated with thief in law Aslan Usoyan (it should be remembered that thieves and bandits are completely different categories of the criminal world, getting along like cats and dogs). Contact was maintained through Usoyan’s relative, Boris Pashayev. Now Darkov can deny the family connection between Ded Khasan (Usoyan) and Pashayev. But even turning a blind eye to the fact that Pashayev was Usoyan’s nephew, he is not able to hush up their purely specific connections. Which he explains by saying that the Kurds are a small people, and everyone maintains close relations with each other.
In fact, there are more than 50 thousand Kurds in Russia alone. This is according to minimum estimates, the maximum gives almost half a million. There are more than 30 million of them in the world. It is unlikely that Grandfather Hassan knows each of them. And certainly not every Kurd in the world will, like Pashayev, defend Ded Hassan right in front of the television cameras.
Darkov denies his own connections with Pashayev. Not surprising. But not too convincing.
In the 5th department, a whole group was formed - Mikhail Chilingarov, Nail Dianov, Sergei Lomov, Maxim Kurochkina - clearing the way for Grandfather Hassan to the top of the criminal hierarchy. MUR employees Yuri Samolkin and Vladimir Rysakov, who later became involved in the famous “werewolves in uniform” case, were also involved in this activity. Of course, the deputy head of the department, Darkov, was indifferent to this. Let's think so...
And this is where the experience of “pornographic aircraft mining” came in handy. Darkov had a safe in his office full of “lighted” guns. Pistols and machine guns, which were once used to shoot someone, were planted on Usoyan’s competitors, “discovered” during searches. In addition to weapons, drugs and explosives were used. Darkov himself writes about drugs on his blog. He just presents it as his undoubted victory.
Alexey Darkov reacts to all these accusations with the dignity of a real man. You see, it is not appropriate for him to “drag” through the courts, washing himself off the dirt in which journalists and former colleagues dumped him. Former colleagues are police officers conducting their own internal investigation into the activities of Alexey Evgenievich. Which doesn't really go to court. But not from confidence in his rightness, but for the opposite reason.
His combat companions
Darkov retired in the early 2000s with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He himself explains his departure from the authorities by a conflict with the “notorious General Orlov.” The general was indeed not the most accommodating person. But it's not about character traits. The point is that Orlov, as the right hand of the no less famous Rushailo, was involved in the main protection schemes for the enterprises of his sponsors. In particular, Boris Berezovsky.
The “tough leftist” Darkov could be perceived as an overly independent employee. However, it is very doubtful that Orlov, who as Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs purged those involved in RUBOP inspections in 1996-1997, would have paid attention to the details of the deputy head of the department. So Darkov left for some other reason. Apparently, according to the one that he now carefully hides, shying away from meeting Pashayev. Apparently, he sensed something was wrong after the case of the “werewolves” and Pashayev’s stupid act of raping the witness.
Now Darkov heads the Regional Public Organization of Veterans of Operational Services “Honor”, which he founded. This brand still protects crime. He slows down and ruins the criminal cases of his clients. Bribes and long-standing connections help. By the way, they deserve special mention.
Yuri Gergel. Director of the Contact Sports Association. The Internet is literally filled with his heartbreaking revelations of past greatness. “I was born in a happy time and in a Great Country, which in the past had the proud name of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics...”, - this is how his nostalgic memories begin. And then - sweet stories about free education, serene childhood and fiery combative (with a good salary) youth. Heartfelt nostalgia for everything free does not interfere with a successful business. Next to complaints about “thieves’ mama’s sons and daughters, whose parents are able to pay more than one thousand bucks” Usually there is a link to a video where a respectable man, for an appropriate fee, promises to teach anyone interested in army knife fighting techniques, which he immediately demonstrates. I’m curious, why would a law-abiding citizen need such specific skills? It is even more curious that in the school, headed by a passionate admirer of the USSR, young men and teenagers of both sexes train. What are they taught there? Techniques of contact combat in the class struggle?
Dmitry Galochkin. Chairman of the All-Russian Trade Union of Non-State Security Spheres. In addition to other regalia and positions, since 2007 he has been a member of the editorial board of the magazine “Man and Law”. The owners of this magazine are Andrey Pashkovsky and Georgy Kopylenko, famous raiders from the ORSI groups, famous for their numerous seizures. The most impressive of these episodes is the seizure of assets of the Moscow region under the banner of the operational management of the RIG groups of the notorious Zhanna Bullock and her husband, the Minister of Finance of the Moscow region Alexei Kuznetsov. Only in 2010, the Investigative Committee was able to stop Pashkovsky and Kopylenko, who were trying to steal a billion dollars stolen from the budget of the Moscow region. What was Dmitry Galochkin, the defender of disadvantaged law enforcement officers, doing at this time?
And finally, probably the most interesting connection of Darkov is Artyom Kuznetsov. In the dashing 1990s, they served together in the 5th department of the RUBOP. This odious character hardly needs any introduction, since it is with him that the “Magnitsky List” begins. Kuznetsov ordered the arrest and detention of a seriously ill lawyer of the Hermitage Foundation. Since then, according to the results of an internal audit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, policeman Kuznetsov, who has an income (including the income of all family members) of just over 100 thousand rubles a year, bought two apartments in elite Moscow residential complexes for more than two and a half million dollars and three cars for 280 thousand. Also dollars.
It becomes clear why retired Lieutenant Colonel Alexei Darkov so passionately defends Army General Nikolai Shchelokov. Formed under a notorious werewolf, who gave a start in life to all modern “werewolves in uniform,” he could not have been different. Let those who are now “defending the honor” of Shchelokov’s, or even Darkov’s, uniform take this into account.
Edgar Taradzin, specially for Rumafia.com
Head of the 5th department of the 3rd ORCH Organized Crime Control Department of the Main Internal Affairs Directorate for Moscow, police colonel
"Themes"
"News"
“Werewolves in uniform” thought about honor
In the 5th department, a whole group was formed - Mikhail Chilingarov, Nail Dianov, Sergei Lomov, Maxim Kurochkina - clearing the way for Grandfather Hasan to the top of the criminal hierarchy. MUR employees Yuri Samolkin and Vladimir Rysakov, who later became involved in the famous “werewolves in uniform” case, were also involved in this activity. Of course, the deputy head of the department, Darkov, was indifferent to this. Let's think so...
link: http://rumafia.com/ru/material.php?id=539
The unknown about the known
The 5th department of the Moscow RUBOP, where Darkov worked, specialized in the leaders of the criminal community and thieves in law. It was in this department that in the early 1990s, a relative of the most famous thief in law Aslan Usoyan (also known under the nickname “Grandfather Hassan”), Boris Pashayev, went to work. Together with Alexei Darkov and another employee of this department, Mikhail Chilingarov, he put together a team that did its best to ensure that Usoyan became the “boss of all bosses.” Despite the fact that Pashayev was a relative of Khasan’s grandfather, it was Alexey Darkov who became the informal leader of this group.
link: http://trushkov.blogspot.com/ 2012/09/blog-post_18.html
Notes from the opera, continued. Merchants of Death.
At the moment of handing over the weapons, unexpectedly for the sellers, employees of our department appeared in front of them as if from underground. Having formalized the detention of the criminals and the seizure of the deadly cargo, we proceeded to the bartender’s apartment. Immediately in the kitchen, during the search, I noticed two shapeless lumps of impressive size made of plastic material.
Nearby on a chair lay electric detonators used in blasting operations. If it weren't for them, I might not have realized what this mass was. “What is this?” I asked the bartender, looking at him meaningfully. “Ammonite,” he replied, clearly in shock at his arrest. “What do you need it for?” I ask. “I wanted to make money.” Here I pause, digesting what was said. There are constant explosions here, and this guy is “making money,” he’s a good goose!” I take a breath and say: “Do you have children?” Answers: “Three.”
“Imagine,” I say, “they’re coming and it’s going to explode nearby.” Silent scene, bowed head. Of course they were both arrested. When we delivered the entire arsenal to the ECC, it turned out that the ammonite weighed 22 kilograms. The expert said that this is enough for the building of the Main Internal Affairs Directorate to have only one foundation left. Here's the story. This is how we worked then, not counting the hours. There were very few of us in this 1st department: Seryozha Lomov, Lenya Rakogon, Misha Chilingarov, Dima Ezhov, Tolya Vyazov, Borya Pashaev, Andrey Saratov, Nail Dianov, Seryozha Kurochkin, Maxim Shustov. We are all connected by our operational youth. We have something to remember.
link: http://www.psj.ru/blog/chest/? category=3568
About how witnesses are protected in Russia
Not a single witness of ours agreed to undergo plastic surgery,” says Mikhail CHILINGAROV, head of the department for the protection of victims, witnesses and other participants in criminal proceedings. – People do not agree to such radical measures even in the most difficult situations. WITNESS PROTECTION Although there was a case when plastic surgery could well have taken place. It happened in Kazan. Then the police themselves persuaded the witnesses to take such a radical measure. The outcome of one of the most high-profile and bloody cases in the history of Russian justice depended on the testimony of these people.
link: http://www.vmdaily.ru/article/56765.html
Round table NOXiS Safety of participants in criminal proceedings
Participating in the round table were: Head of the 5th Department of the 3rd Organized Crime Control Department of the Main Internal Affairs Directorate for Moscow, police colonel Mikhail Konstantinovich Chilingarov, Head of the Department of Operational Investigative Activities of the Department of Internal Affairs, Doctor of Law, Police Lieutenant Colonel Evgeniy Serafimovich Dubonosov, Deputy Head of the Department operational investigative activities of the Department of Internal Affairs, candidate of legal sciences, police major Sinilov Denis Konstantinovich, specialist-inspector of the 51st department of the Department of Economic Security, police lieutenant Ivanov Dmitry Sergeevich.
link:
The Chairman of the Civil Committee of St. Petersburg, one of the leaders of the St. Petersburg opposition, Olga Kurnosova, proposed adding a new person to the Magnitsky List. She considered it appropriate to include in the list retired lieutenant colonel Alexei Darkov, who is called in the media the “accomplice” of the notorious investigator Artem Kuznetsov. Kurnosova addressed the corresponding statement to the ambassadors of a number of European countries and the United States. The reason for the appeal was the article “Thieves will join the “list” of those not allowed to travel abroad,” published in the online publication Lentacom.ru http://www.lentacom.ru/news/20589.html
“A fundamentally important touch: Darkov’s long-term connection with Kuznetsov, who played one of the key roles in the ominous “Magnitsky case.” Data from a journalistic investigation suggest that the contacts between Darkov and Kuznetsov were at least “shadow” in nature and related, in particular, to corrupt financial schemes. Darkov’s connections with outright criminals outlined in the article are also significant,” the oppositionist notes in her letter to the ambassadors of the EU countries and the United States.
Kurnosova believes that the article gives grounds to supplement the “Magnitsky list” with the name of Darkov - at least until all the circumstances of his connections with Kuznetsov are clarified. “The information contained in the article once again demonstrates how entangled the Russian Federation is in a web of criminal corruption that stretches back to the times of the USSR. People from punitive agencies play a special role in the system of organized crime and bureaucratic corruption,” says Kurnosova.
Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky died in November 2009 in the hospital of the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center. He was accused of tax evasion, however, according to representatives of the fund, the case was fabricated by Russian law enforcement officers. The Magnitsky List is a list of Russian officials who have violated human rights in Russia. These people are supposed to be denied entry into Western countries. We are also talking about freezing accounts in European and American banks.
Aircraft mine pornography
The lives of retired law enforcement officers are different. Some continue to serve in parallel departments. Others retire, write memoirs and enjoy life. Still others drink bitter. But there are also those who do not give up their business, essentially. Resignation only frees them from the annoying need to pretend to be something other than who they were, and frees their hands for a very profitable shadow business. Alexey Evgenievich Darkov is one of these retirees.
He was born in May 1958 and led a life full of adventures, about which he now writes stories for the edification of posterity. He runs his own blog on the Internet. Some of the stories on this blog may seem very interesting if you know some of the specifics of the work of the author of these stories. For example, Darkov writes how in 1995 a dealer in Argentine revolvers was detained. The reader is presented with the image of a valiant officer involved in the most dangerous area - the fight against organized crime. Moreover, the fight against weapons traffic. It’s both interesting (what man doesn’t like weapons!) and educational. It turns out that Aeroflot stewards were supplying weapons to the criminal leaders of Krasnodar. The scheme, as they say, is in action, “live”, and even from an eyewitness.
Or, for example, Darkov writes about the arrest of a certain Moscow bartender selling grenade launchers and machine guns. The blog reader, with bated breath, follows the vicissitudes of the show, specially organized for the purpose of apprehending a dangerous bandit. He greedily swallows details about the cooperation between the police and the security of VimpelCom (which supplied the anti-mafia fighters with cell phones that were rare for the mid-90s). And having learned that 22 kilograms of ammonite were stored in the bartender’s basement, “enough for only the foundation of the Main Internal Affairs Directorate building to remain,” the reader undoubtedly realizes what risk Darkov and his colleagues exposed themselves to. There is no question who is the hero here.
The weapon theme, apparently, has always been Alexey Evgenievich’s strong point. His memories of the experience of confiscation of weapons begin back in 1984. True, at that time we were talking about very small quantities of deadly goods. A Czechoslovak pistol and an aircraft mine – that’s the operatives’ entire catch. The fact that, in addition to weapons, “the criminal was selling pornographic magazines” is also somewhat out of trend. But that’s why a villain is a villain, to be a villain in everything.
However, knowing the ever-loving tendency of the valiant Soviet-Russian police to collect all the “penalties” into one criminal case of a person caught doing something, one can guess the reasons for such a wide spread - from porn magazines to airliners - in the interests of a businessman. All that remains is to find out what comes first – the weapon or the “strawberry”. That is, what the criminal actually traded, and what appeared in hindsight. And then the answer: Darkov used children to make, in modern terms, a control purchase of a porn magazine.
The children bought the magazine and started looking at the pictures(it’s a good test purchase!). They were caught doing this by police officers “passing by.” And there, based on a tip, they found the unlucky merchant. Consequently, weapons appeared later - when it was necessary to hide the ends of some unsolved crimes. Or your own schemes.
And yet Darkov seems to have nothing to do with it. Not counting the possible embellishment of his own professional biography. But ask a fisherman about his catch and he will twist his arms to reveal the size of the rudd he caught. Who is without sin?
The times of Soviet shoulder straps
But there is a hidden side to the story of the weapons catch, which is not customary to talk about now. If times of blessed stagnation are compared with the present, it is only in favor of the former. By default, under the general secretaries, “there was no such mess.” True, not so long ago I reluctantly had to admit: there were bandits, serial killers, and sexual maniacs in the Soviet Union (it would be somehow strange to ignore the memories of old MUR members). But these are exceptions that only prove the rule, right? But the Soviet police are a completely different matter. The police were infallible.
It is not difficult to guess who benefits from imposing this image on naive ordinary people. After all, the official biographies of many of today’s high-ranking “police gentlemen” began precisely in those times. Having accepted the social order, the propaganda machine began to spin at full speed.
As for Alexei Darkov personally, he began his glorious journey under the USSR Minister of Internal Affairs Nikolai Shchelokov. In his memoirs, Darkov speaks enthusiastically about him and with all his might defends the boss from “dirty slander” and “outright slander.” At the same time, not a word was said about the reason for Shchelokov’s suicide on December 13, 1984 and about his high-profile case, which became the “lightning of perestroika.”
Nikolai Anisimovich Shchelokov was personally friends with Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev. Which allowed him to hide the shadow sides of his activities for the time being. However, ever since clods of earth were thrown onto the lid of the Secretary General's coffin in November 1982, he began to have troubles. Did Shchelokov know that Yuri Andropov, who participated in the funeral, was also ruining his career?
As we now know, as a result of an investigation into the activities of the former head of the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs, facts were revealed that he had misappropriated state property worth almost a quarter of a million rubles (at that time a huge amount of personal theft). And the same amount of damage results from Shchelokov’s arbitrariness. For example, a two-part documentary film about his life, filmed by his own order at public expense, cost the treasury 50 thousand rubles. Anyone who remembers the prices of that time knows what this figure means - about 625 thousand dollars at the then exchange rate. Antiques, paintings, official Mercedes in the possession of the ministerial family, diamonds, other luxury items... Not counting flowers sent to the addresses of “very close ones” (Shchelokov was very woman-loving), bought for next to nothing in a special “family” store (closed for outsiders) imports, repairs at the expense of the same state. The list is impressive.
Many items of this kind were indeed found in Shchelokov’s apartment and dacha. What's the point of covering up for a corrupt official? But Darkov, without motivating his position, rushes to defame the accusers: “You’re not worth his little finger. He is respected by all veteran circles and intelligentsia of the CIS. In his homeland in Ukraine, streets in two cities are named after him. The museum is open. He fought with dignity in the Great Patriotic War and restored the country's destroyed economy. He was not convicted."
Yes, indeed, Shchelokov fought. Like any other party member at headquarters: he looked after the fighters. He was a guardian of “high communist morality” at the front. Yes, indeed, he restored the economy, although he started in 1945 as the chief political officer of Transcarpathia. Suppressed Ukrainian resistance to the power of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). Yes, the museum and the streets exist. And what? There are now five museums of Stepan Bandera in Ukraine, and there are dozens of monuments to this enemy of Shchelokov.
As for certain “veteran circles” that Darkov refers to, they sometimes try to whitewash not only Shchelokov. Veterans of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)-CPSU stand up in defense of such an odious figure of the Brezhnev era as Grigory Romanov. How can their arguments be trusted after this? Which, by the way, boil down to one thing: all fabrications, slandered by enemies. And, apparently, at the same time they hung Shchelokov’s dacha with antiques.
But Darkov’s nostalgia for the times of Shchelokov’s omnipotence may also be generated by a very gloomy circumstance. Not only the mutual guarantee of the police. According to some information received from the very veterans of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to which Darkov refers, Minister Shchelokov had a special team of killers. These people, on the orders of the boss, eliminated his personal enemies. In particular, the murder of actress Zoya Fedorova and the disappearance of antique dealer Garig Basmadzhan are associated with them.
The personal involvement of Alexey Darkov in the actions of this group has not been proven. Most likely, he had nothing to do with her - he was not the same age. But who knows what other secrets Shchelokov took to the grave, having made holes in his ceremonial uniform with a personalized hunting rifle? And since the minister himself allowed himself to do this, lawlessness often occurred on the ground, not inferior to the “dashing nineties.” Consider the same case with an aircraft mine seized from a small pornography dealer. However, the templates used by Darkov to add the necessary details to this story are long outdated. They seem to have been copied from the series “The Investigation is Conducted by Experts” (also, by the way, sanctioned by Shchelokov). Anyone who knows Darkov will understand his interest in weapons issues.
Zheglov's means, Dark's goals
According to Alexey Evgenievich himself, he began his service in the Kuntsevo police department. For a short time in 1984, he held the position of senior criminal investigation officer for the prevention of juvenile crimes. It was then that the incident with the “gunsmith pornographer” happened. Darkov’s somewhat strange understanding of his powers at that time should not be surprising.
However, it was the weapon that arose under the porn magazine that pushed Darkov’s career into growth. “Zheglov’s method” worked - the detective, glorified by cinema, also did not disdain to plant “evidence”. True, he limited himself more and more to wallets, and for a purpose that, with a stretch, can still be considered good. Darkov clearly did not intend to imprison the ill-fated pornography dealer for a long time. Throwing ammunition at a petty offender - firing a cannon at sparrows. But this whole mysterious story makes sense if we accept the version of hiding ends.
Who was killed with the discovered pistol, in what showdown it was exposed, we, unfortunately, will no longer know. We won’t know from which warehouse the aircraft mine was stolen or for whom it was intended. Nevertheless, Darkov clearly liked the algorithm. And later, after his transfer to the police department, he had the opportunity to use it more than once. There was nothing particularly shameful in such a scheme in those hard times. An employee of the Organized Crime Control Department, who hid his face for filming, openly justified such actions in the early 2000s: “Those were the times, there was a war going on. But in war, the concept of the applicability and inapplicability of blows below the belt takes on a completely different meaning.” Darkov could repeat these words.
Between bandits and thieves
In the late 1980s, Alexey Darkov was thrown into the whirlpool of the fight against organized crime. Here's what it looks like in his words.
“In 1987, the 11th Department of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department was created to combat dangerous manifestations of gang violence. recidivism and organized crime." Locally in district departments, the most experienced detectives are assigned to work in this area. In the Kuntsevo district police department, where I had moved by that time, this job was assigned to Anatoly Fedorovich Shershebnev, who had served on the wanted list for about 20 years. The time was perestroika. Society was restructured, the beginnings of business and private property appeared. Crime also changed. Organized groups made themselves known more and more often. This was especially noticeable to me when solving premeditated murders, robberies and robberies. In 1987, there was a sharp jump in murders and other violent crimes. The vector of crime development has leaned towards serious crimes. The attacks became more and more daring.
By the end of 1988, ministry analysts came to the conclusion that there was organized crime in the country, and therefore it was necessary to create a service to combat this phenomenon. The 6th Directorate is being created in the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. ORBs are created locally. In Moscow, on the basis of the 11th department, the Department for Combating Organized Group Crime (OBOGP) is being created. The police department creates groups of two people.
In mid-1989, I was asked to head this department at the Kuntsevsky District Department of Internal Affairs. Igor Mikhailovich Trach was appointed my partner. And, since the line of serious ones was also left behind me, they were allowed to recruit a group of the best operatives in the area. The choice fell on Yuri Grigorievich Gergel, Sergei Leonidovich Tomillo, Nikolai Dmitrievich Sheremetyev and Leonid Vladimirovich Rakogon. Later, Alexander Vladimirovich Podolny joined the group. The oldest of us, Sergei Tomillo, was 36 years old.
About a year later, I was taken to the OBOGP CID of the Moscow City Executive Committee. A year and a half later, I was already appointed senior detective for particularly important cases. During this period, Sergei Valentinovich Lomov worked with me in the group. I became friends with him from the first days of coming to the MUR. Later Leonid Rakagon joined the group. This is how our trio arose, which survived until the last days at RUOP, where our department was transformed.”
Let us note that analysts always knew about the existence of organized crime in the USSR. It did not disappear anywhere after 1917. Rather, on the contrary, it blossomed in full bloom precisely in the conditions of the “triumph of social justice.” However, let's get back to specifics. Let's reread it more carefully: “The 6th department is being created in the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. ORBs are created locally. In Moscow, on the basis of the 11th department, the Department for Combating Organized Group Crime (OBOGP) is being created. The police department creates groups of two people. In mid-1989, I was asked to head this department at the Kuntsevsky District Department of Internal Affairs.”
The 6th Directorate, where Darkov served, dealt with organized criminal communities. From Soviet thieves in law to the new generation of gangsters. A comprehensive database was created. Both at the MUR and at the Kuntsevsky District Department of Internal Affairs, Darkov developed precisely this direction. By the way, he confuses the dates: the 11th department of the MUR was created not in 1987, but in 1986. But these are details. It’s more interesting to make sure that there wasn’t a certain Axis in his biography? And some “Orekhovsky” ones?
This is not an idle question. The charge of such connections is very serious. It’s not for nothing that Darkov denies it so vehemently.
In the late 1980s, the Orekhovo-Zuevskaya organized crime group was formed. Its leader Sergei Timofeev (Sylvester) quickly became the object of universal hatred among competing factions. His colleague Sergei Butorin (Osya) took advantage of this and blew up Sylvester along with his Mercedes in 1994, deciding to take his place. Alexey Darkov helped him. Not directly, of course, but very effectively.
Starting around 1993 (and possibly earlier, since Sylvester’s arrest in 1989), Darkov and Butorin were brought together by common interests. When the presumptuous Osya began to chop off heads left and right for the slightest offense, he naturally gained a reputation as a quick “non-tenant.” And he received practical advice from Darkov: to stage his own murder. Then undergo plastic surgery and hide abroad.
Interacting with Osya, Darkov fine-tuned the use of an effective technique. In case the next target of the Axis, literally walking over corpses, was too well guarded, he sent operatives of the 5th department of the RUOP (where he was deputy chief). The person indicated by Osya was detained. After a short investigation, the detainee left the police. And he became a victim of the waiting “Orekhovsky” brothers. This was done, of course, not for free. It was not without reason that they said that in the 90s, the RUBOP could afford a car in a year, and a little later, an apartment. One can only guess what the deputy head of the department could afford.
Darkov also collaborated with thief in law Aslan Usoyan (it should be remembered that thieves and bandits are completely different categories of the criminal world, getting along like cats and dogs). Contact was maintained through Usoyan’s relative, Boris Pashayev. Now Darkov can deny the family connection between Ded Khasan (Usoyan) and Pashayev. But even turning a blind eye to the fact that Pashayev was Usoyan’s nephew, he is not able to hush up their purely specific connections. Which he explains by saying that the Kurds are a small people, and everyone maintains close relations with each other.
In fact, there are more than 50 thousand Kurds in Russia alone. This is according to minimum estimates, the maximum gives almost half a million. There are more than 30 million of them in the world. It is unlikely that Grandfather Hassan knows each of them. And certainly not every Kurd in the world will, like Pashayev, defend Ded Hassan right in front of the television cameras.
Darkov denies his own connections with Pashayev. Not surprising. But not too convincing.
In the 5th department, a whole group was formed - Mikhail Chilingarov, Nail Dianov, Sergei Lomov, Maxim Kurochkina - clearing the way for Grandfather Hassan to the top of the criminal hierarchy. MUR employees Yuri Samolkin and Vladimir Rysakov, who later became involved in the famous “werewolves in uniform” case, were also involved in this activity. Of course, the deputy head of the department, Darkov, was indifferent to this. Let's think so...
And this is where the experience of “pornographic aircraft mining” came in handy. Darkov had a safe in his office full of “lighted” guns. Pistols and machine guns, which were once used to shoot someone, were planted on Usoyan’s competitors, “discovered” during searches. In addition to weapons, drugs and explosives were used. Darkov himself writes about drugs on his blog. He just presents it as his undoubted victory.
Alexey Darkov reacts to all these accusations with the dignity of a real man. You see, it is not appropriate for him to “drag” through the courts, washing himself off the dirt in which journalists and former colleagues dumped him. Former colleagues are police officers conducting their own internal investigation into the activities of Alexey Evgenievich. Which doesn't really go to court. But not from confidence in his rightness, but for the opposite reason.
His combat companions
Darkov retired in the early 2000s with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He himself explains his departure from the authorities by a conflict with the “notorious General Orlov.” The general was indeed not the most accommodating person. But it's not about character traits. The point is that Orlov, as the right hand of the no less famous Rushailo, was involved in the main protection schemes for the enterprises of his sponsors. In particular, Boris Berezovsky.
The “tough leftist” Darkov could be perceived as an overly independent employee. However, it is very doubtful that Orlov, who as Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs purged those involved in RUBOP inspections in 1996-1997, would have paid attention to the details of the deputy head of the department. So Darkov left for some other reason. Apparently, according to the one that he now carefully hides, shying away from meeting Pashayev. Apparently, he sensed something was wrong after the case of the “werewolves” and Pashayev’s stupid act of raping the witness.
Now Darkov heads the Regional Public Organization of Veterans of Operational Services “Honor”, which he founded. This brand still protects crime. He slows down and ruins the criminal cases of his clients. Bribes and long-standing connections help. By the way, they deserve special mention.
Yuri Gergel. Director of the Contact Sports Association. The Internet is literally filled with his heartbreaking revelations of past greatness. “I was born in a happy time and in a Great Country, which in the past had the proud name of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics...”, - this is how his nostalgic memories begin. And then - sweet stories about free education, serene childhood and fiery combative (with a good salary) youth. Heartfelt nostalgia for everything free does not interfere with a successful business. Next to complaints about “thieves’ mama’s sons and daughters, whose parents are able to pay more than one thousand bucks” Usually there is a link to a video where a respectable man, for an appropriate fee, promises to teach anyone interested in army knife fighting techniques, which he immediately demonstrates. I’m curious, why would a law-abiding citizen need such specific skills? It is even more curious that in the school, headed by a passionate admirer of the USSR, young men and teenagers of both sexes train. What are they taught there? Techniques of contact combat in the class struggle?
Dmitry Galochkin. Chairman of the All-Russian Trade Union of Non-State Security Spheres. In addition to other regalia and positions, since 2007 he has been a member of the editorial board of the magazine “Man and Law”. The owners of this magazine are Andrey Pashkovsky and Georgy Kopylenko, famous raiders from the ORSI groups, famous for their numerous seizures. The most impressive of these episodes is the seizure of assets of the Moscow region under the banner of the operational management of the RIG groups of the notorious Zhanna Bullock and her husband, the Minister of Finance of the Moscow region Alexei Kuznetsov. Only in 2010, the Investigative Committee was able to stop Pashkovsky and Kopylenko, who were trying to steal a billion dollars stolen from the budget of the Moscow region. What was Dmitry Galochkin, the defender of disadvantaged law enforcement officers, doing at this time?
And finally, probably the most interesting connection of Darkov is Artyom Kuznetsov. In the dashing 1990s, they served together in the 5th department of the RUBOP. This odious character hardly needs any introduction, since it is with him that the “Magnitsky List” begins. Kuznetsov ordered the arrest and detention of a seriously ill lawyer of the Hermitage Foundation. Since then, according to the results of an internal audit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, policeman Kuznetsov, who has an income (including the income of all family members) of just over 100 thousand rubles a year, bought two apartments in elite Moscow residential complexes for more than two and a half million dollars and three cars for 280 thousand. Also dollars.
It becomes clear why retired Lieutenant Colonel Alexei Darkov so passionately defends Army General Nikolai Shchelokov. Formed under a notorious werewolf, who gave a start in life to all modern “werewolves in uniform,” he could not have been different. Let those who are now “defending the honor” of Shchelokov’s, or even Darkov’s, uniform take this into account.
Edgar Taradzin, specially for Rumafia.com