Life and Morals of the P. Era. Part 4

The beginnings of Putin’s security service were marked by a very curious incident. In May 2000, when Putin had just been sworn in after his first presidential election victory, Yuri Krapivin, Boris Yeltsin’s last security chief, suddenly asked to resign. “A new president means a new security team,” he allegedly said, and he would not give in to any entreaties to stay , a Putin subordinate recalls this episode × . The only successor who came to the new president’s mind was Yevgeny Murov, an acquaintance of his from St. Petersburg. When he came to the Kremlin for an interview, Murov snapped to attention.

– What do you think about the offer to head the FSO? – Putin asked.

– As you command! – was the only answer Murov could give.

– No, but what do you think?

– As you command!

– I command you to head the FSO,” Putin finished. Murov saluted and walked out , as recalled by the same source × .

When Putin worked in the St. Petersburg mayor’s office, Murov served in the city’s FSB division and, among other things, supervised the security of the Smolny Palace, where the city government was located. There was a rumor going around the city that in 1996, when the Prosecutor General’s Office was conducting a case against St. Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak and his subordinates, Murov’s men prevented the Moscow investigators from coming to Smolny. By doing so, Murov allegedly earned Putin’s sympathy . We retell this story based on the recollections of a journalist who worked in the mayor’s office at the time × .

In any case, under President Putin, Murov has had a long career, during which he has shown himself to be far from the ingenuous gimper he seemed at his first interview. During his tenure in the FSO, Murov’s family and businessmen close to him became very wealthy – their business interests were discovered in construction, stevedoring, and trade. In parallel with Murov, another top FSO manager, Viktor Zolotov, was also getting increasingly wealthy and influential. For many years he headed the Presidential Security Service (SBP), which is essentially a special department within the FSO – the only task of the SBP is to protect the head of state. “They are stupid, but very commercial,” a former Kremlin official describes Putin’s main guards.

Security guards are the only people who have almost round-the-clock access to the country’s president, and because of this they were able to deal with many business and staff matters. During Putin’s third presidential term, Murov and Zolotov left their posts in the FSO, but the corruption in the presidential guard did not leave with them. Since then, former Putin “lichniks” (i.e., the guards closest to him) Dmitry Kochnev and Alexei Rubezhnoi have served as heads of the FSO and the SBP, respectively. Under them, Putin’s guards have achieved unprecedented “commercial” success.

Boxing as a school of courage

Unlike Murov and Zolotov, Rubezhnoi joined the FSO not by acquaintance, but because of his combat experience. While serving in the FSB’s Alfa Group, he participated in combat operations , claimed Alexei Filatov, vice president of the International Association of Veterans of the Alfa Group × . Rubezhnoi then joined the FSO, where he rose to the rank of Putin’s “lichnik” and at the age of 43 was already a major general. Also, Rubezhnoi is a professional boxer.

Boxing is practically a state sport in Russia, and it’s not just because it was practiced by influential law enforcers. Under Putin, officials or oligarchs close to the power began to supervise almost every notable sport – for example, they were appointed heads of various sports federations.

This scheme was profitable for the officials. A former sports functionary describes how it worked: “By law, officials must declare their income. But they appointed their relatives to minor positions in sports federations, who received a salary, a company car and free trips around the world. All this was paid for by businessmen who were put in charge of the sport.”

Murov was put in charge of boxing – he oversaw the sport’s federation (FBI) in various capacities from the early 2000s until 2017. Under him, the SOGAZ insurance company became the federation’s main sponsor – it is linked to Putin’s family and his close friend Yuri Kovalchuk. It all looks like boxing has been given state importance.

At the same time, boxing has traditionally been associated with the underworld – many Russian mob leaders of the 80-90s came out of this sport. For example, boxing was practiced by Vladimir Kumarin, the leader of the St. Petersburg mafia, associated with Putin and his entourage. Before Murov, the Russian Boxing Federation (FBR) had already been headed by two men with criminal backgrounds – first, the Krasnoyarsk authority Anatoly Bykov, nicknamed “Tolya the Bull,” and Eduard Khusainov, nicknamed “Khusain,” who came from the Balashikha gang. These two worlds – Putin’s guards and bandits – were bound to cross paths sooner or later.

Here is how it happened. In 2009, Murov left his post as president of the FBR , a management position that requires regular administration of the organization × , moving to the position of head of the supervisory board. He was to supervise his successor, the new president, Boris Ivanyuzhenkov, although many know him better as Rotan. He is one of the longtime leaders of an influential Podolsk gang with numerous crimes on its record, including felonies. Rotan already had administrative experience: at the dawn of Putin’s rule, he managed to briefly work as Russia’s sports minister and later served as a State Duma member from the CPRF.

The Moscow suburbs of Podolsk and Chekhov, which were controlled by Rotan’s gang, have historically been the center of boxing development in Russia. In 2003, the Vityaz boxing center (which started the careers of professional world champions Denis Lebedev and Alexander Povetkin, among others) and a base for the Russian national team were built in Chekhov. The construction was supervised by Podolsk businessman Sergei Lalakin, nicknamed Luchok, once the leaders of the Podolsk gang and an associate of Rotan. As a young man, Luchok himself boxed at a gym in Shcherbinka, near Moscow, where members of his gang often met , according to The Insider’s source × . In the mid-1990s, Lalakin became a “legal entrepreneur” , as Kommersant put it, according to Lalakin’s own words × , a patron of the arts, and a recipient of state awards. At the same time, Rotan began to move up the bureaucratic ladder. The Heritage Charitable Foundation, which was founded by Luchok”, aims to build 100 Vityaz sports clubs across the country, and finances a soccer and hockey team. But most of all, Luchok and Rotan love boxing.

“Lalakin and Ivanyuzhenkov were passionate about this sport, they sponsored it a lot. This provided good connections with law enforcers – in particular, with Murov,” explains a former top manager of the FBR. His subordinate, answering the question about Podolsk bandits, makes excuses:

“We ourselves did not understand how the bratva could coexist with the FSO for so many years.”

Alexander Shestun, the former head of the Serpukhov district convicted for 15 years for “abuse of power,” according to his own version – because of a conflict with the Podolsk gang × , claims that the Podolsk gang is still involved in criminal business – they control landfills south of Moscow. Shestun also says that Lalakin regularly communicates with Putin . This was told to Shestun by FSB General Ivan Tkachev × . We are unable to verify this. However, in the movie “There Will Be Good” about Lalakin’s life, which he made about himself, Luchok poses in his own office with two photos behind him. One shows him with Rotan, and the second features the president of Russia.

In 2016, there was a “shift change” in Russian boxing – Murov and Ivanyuzhenkov handed over control of the federation to another pair of guard and hardcore criminal – Alexei Rubezhnoi and Umar Kremlev. Rubezhnoi became head of the supervisory board, the federation’s charter was amended to cancel the vote, and Rubezhnoi simply appointed Kremlev, who was little known in the boxing world at the time, as the new president , now called “general secretary” × .

Telling surnames

In March 2010, Umar Lutfulloyev, a 28-year-old Tajik native, came to the Serpukhov registry office with a somewhat uncommon request – he decided to change his Turkic surname to a Russian one. That is how Lutfulloyev became Kremlev. The new surname kind of washed away his dark past: convictions for extortion in 2004 and battery in 2007.

Lutfulloyev himself later said that Kremleva was his mother’s maiden name. However, this is not true. Olga Lutfulloyeva’s maiden name was Krivaya. Either this alias determined Lutfulloyev’s future, or the new surname was chosen as a sign of respect for the Russian authorities, but in any case, the former criminal soon became very close to the Kremlin. An acquaintance of Kremlev’s describes the story of the surname change as follows: “Umar, a Tajik and Muslim by birth, changed his name and religion to please them” . Kremlev himself claims that he was “born in Christ” and that his family is Orthodox × . “They” are the top brass of the FSO, with whom Kremlev became acquainted, again through boxing and the underworld. For the FSO, involvement with the church is an integral part of its identity , our interlocutor explains × . Indeed, if you take a look at Kremlev’s Instagram, you will find many reports about his visits to Orthodox churches and donations to “God-pleasing causes” . For example, in 2022-2023. Kremlev’s ANO “Boxing Progress Center” donated 34 million rubles to the needs of Patriarch Kirill’s metochion × .

Kremlev said that until the age of 19 he boxed in his native Serpukhov, training together with future world champions Fedor and Dmitry Chudinov and Sergei Kalchugin . Proekt has not been able to verify whether this is true × . In another interview, Kremlev claimed that he failed to become a professional boxer because of discipline problems: once, before an important fight, he stayed at a disco until 4am.

Serpukhov was part of the Podolsk gang’s zone of influence, and Kremlev was acquainted with Lalakin and Ivanyuzhenkov “geographically,” Lutfulloyev’s former business partner explained in a conversation with Proekt. In 2015, Kremlev founded the Patriot promotional agency in the Moscow Oblast: “He was a mid-level promoter” , Proekt’s source claims × . At first, he promoted his ring partners, the Chudinov brothers and Murat Gassiyev (who fought current absolute world champion Alexander Usik). Then Kremlev promoted the retired famous American boxer Roy Jones Jr. in Russia and managed to arrange him a meeting with Putin in occupied Crimea. The American then asked for Russian citizenship and was quickly granted it.

In the early 2010s, Kremlev also became a biker – he bought himself a Harley Davidson and a Ducati and joined the Night Wolves, the most famous motorcycle club in the country. It was a calculated move. Night Wolves led by Alexander Zaldastanov, also known as “The Surgeon”, has long been close to the government, important officials and Putin himself participate in Night Wolves motorcycle rallies.

Zaldastanov introduced Kremlev to Rubezhnoi , two of Kremlev’s acquaintances know this × , who was also fond of motorcycles . Rubezhny owned two Yamahas and a Soviet Dnepr motorcycle × . However, Rubezhnoi and Kremlev would later distance themselves from the Night Wolves: the former would sell his motorcycles, while the latter would admit in an interview that “biker culture” was not close to him.

Now Kremlev and Rubezhnoi are inseparable, they box together and celebrate holidays, their families are friends, there’s a lot of evidence of that in their social networks . For example, Rubezhnoi’s youngest daughter Daria is friends on social networks with Umar Kremlev, his sister Takhmina Mokan, Kremlev’s children Miron and Ulyana, and even his nominee Oleg Saitov × . In the GetContact app, one of Kremlev’s numbers is recorded by several different people as “Umar (FSO),” “FSO Umar,” and “Umar Kremlev (SBP FSO) Russian Boxing Federation,” where SBP stands for the Presidential Security Service headed by Rubezhnoi. The mutual affection of these two went so far that in 2021 the Sokol private security company owned by Kremlev through a nominee was renamed to Rubezh . We cannot assert that the new name was chosen in honor of Rubezhnoi, but there is no other plausible justification for the name change either × . Kremlev tells his acquaintances that he has an almost bloodline connection with Rubezhnoi – the SBP head is allegedly married to the sister of Lutfulloyev’s first wife. Proekt has found no evidence of this.

According to an acquaintance of Kremlev’s, Rubezhnoi at least once organized a private audience with Putin for his twice-convicted friend. Putin gave Kremlev a medal of the Order of Merit to the Fatherland, 2nd degree. But the main reward Kremlev got was somethig else.

“Thanks to one person, today there are actually unlimited opportunities to both make money and strive. This person is, of course, our President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin,“ Kremlev said in one of his recent interviews.

Putin has indeed given Kremlev and his guard Rubezhnoi almost unlimited opportunities to make money.

Man with resources

In 2016, when Kremlev and Rubezhnoi entered Russian boxing, the sport’s federation was not having the best of times. Money was scarce – much of it was spent on boxers’ participation in the Rio Olympics – the federation’s rank-and-file employees even had their salaries delayed. At that moment, an energetic dark-skinned man – it was Lutfulloyev-Kremlev – appeared in the FBR office and began handing out tasks, often using profanity , a former FBR employee told Proekt × .

With the arrival of Kremlev and Rubezhnoi, the FBR’s financial situation has seemingly improved: the federation began to organize luxurious forums, festivals, and boxing tournaments; Kremlev is especially proud of the fact that he has significantly increased prize money for boxers, he gifts apartments and cars to the athletes. For example, at the recent World Boxing Championships, Kremlev raised the prize money for first place to half a million dollars.

Kremlev claims that the FBR exists on private money and “not a single penny is allocated from the budget” . Except for the costs of training the Russian national team, which, according to Kremlev, are paid directly from the budget × . Judging by the official website of the federation, Russian boxers have indeed got new general and strategic partners – the Liga Stavok betting company and National Lottery. Recently, the logo of Rolf, Russia’s largest car dealer, has also been added to the posters of boxing tournaments held under the auspices of the federation. However, the thing is that the first two companies are actually owned by Kremlev himself, while Rolf, once taken away from opposition State Duma member Sergei Petrov, is now also being taken over by the man formerly known as Lutfulloyev.

Where did the Kremlin get these assets? How did a mid-level promoter suddenly become a major business tycoon in his mid-2010s? A person familiar with the management of Rolf gave us a short answer – “he’s a man with resources”. In 2023, Rolf management was trying to sell the company to at least someone – its creator, Sergei Petrov, has long been living outside Russia, where he is persecuted for supporting the opposition. “Kremlev was not among the contenders for the purchase, we did not know of such a businessman,” describes a person familiar with the car dealer’s management. “However, the sale did not take place. Rolf was simply nationalized – they did so with the assets of foreign companies that left Russia after the outbreak of the war. Rolf, however, is not a foreign company. As far as we know, Rubezhnoi lobbied Putin to include car dealerships in the nationalization list, and then lobbied the new owner, this Kremlev,” says our interlocutor. Already in March 2024, a person closely associated with Kremlev was appointed general director of Rolf . Roman Antonov is listed as a director of two of Kremlev’s companies, and they are business partners in yet another company × , and the Serpukhov businessman himself holds meetings with the company’s key employees , two Rolf employees say × .

This was not the first generous gift Kremlev received from the state. Since 2014, in Russia, only the state, i.e. the Ministry of Sport or the Ministry of Finance, can act as a lottery organizer. However, ticket sales and winnings distribution are handled by private firms – lottery organizers who have billions of rubles of lottery money going through them. In 2019, the government appointed one of Kremlev’s companies Sports Lotteries × as the operator of National Lottery. It was this lottery that soon became the new “strategic partner” of the boxing federation.

Proekt has established that Kremlev, through his proxies, has also become the beneficiary of three of Russia’s leading betting companies. The brands in question are Fonbet, Pari and Liga Stavok, which the Kremlev’s men took over in 2022-2023 . The first two were taken over by Umar Kremlev’s men from Alexander Udodov, the former (perhaps fictitiously so) son-in-law of Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. Kremlev’s nominee Alexei Avsetsin received the share in Liga Stavok betting company previously owned by Magomed Gadzhiyev and his father-in-law Igor Avdeyev × .

The total revenue of these three bookmakers in 2023 alone amounted to RUB 625.6 bn. This is more than half of the country’s entire legal betting market – 51.48% to be exact × .

Betting king

In May 2023, an new unusual entry appeared in the register of “foreign agents”: Magomed Gadzhiyev, a State Duma member from United Russia and a Dagestani native, joined the company of journalists, public figures, and opposition politicians. Ironically, he himself voted in favor of the “foreign agents” law, as well as many other repressive acts adopted by the Duma during his 18 years as an MP. The Ministry of Justice justified the labeling of the United Russia member as a “foreign agent” by his statements about “support of the Ukrainian authorities” and his willingness to cooperate with third countries for the sake of obtaining foreign citizenship. It all looked quite strange. A short time before the ruling of the Ministry of Justice, Gadzhiyev had received gratitude from the head of the DPR Denis Pushilin for humanitarian aid provided to the people of Donbas and the Russian military. The real reason behind everything that happened was a business conflict.

For many years Gadzhiyev was a partner of Suleiman Kerimov, member of the Federation Council, billionaire and also Dagestani native. However, in recent years, the paths of these two have diverged. Because of the conflict with Kerimov, Gadzhiyev left Russia in the spring of 2023, while the billionaire senator lobbied to have Gadzhiyev added to the list of “foreign” agents and a criminal case opened against him , says a businessman who knows both men × .

Among other things, Gadzhiyev and Kerimov were partners in the betting business : they owned Liga Stavok through managers and relatives × . Together they also owned a financial service called the Interactive Betting Transfer Accounting Center (TsUPIS), through which users transferred betting money to bookmakers and received their winnings. Kremlev initially worked for Gadzhiyev as one of his managers, according to an acquaintance of both men. However, he soon became the owner of TsUPIS, quickly buying up the stakes of ten former co-owners of the company (all relatives and managers of Gadzhiyev and Kerimov) The share buyback took place in 2021 × .

“Gadzhiyev’s people were offered to transfer the company to Umar’s people, the main beneficiaries of this business are Rubezhnoi and Kremlev,” says an acquaintance of Kremlev’s. But even this was not enough.

The legislation that was in force until recently allowed bets to be accepted through various payment services, and Qiwi Group was competing with TsUPIS in this market. Betting intermediation provided an opportunity to earn good money, as each bet was subject to a commission of about 1% , says a former betting market participant × . Given the size of the betting market, this is a huge amount of money. The revenues of TsUPIS for 9 months of 2023 alone exceeded RUB 32 bn, which is almost $363 mn , according to the company’s own reports × .

And then there is the betting supervision. Until 2021, there were two self-regulatory organizations, which were appropriately named the First and Second Self-Regulatory Betting Organizations. They developed standards and rules for the industry.

Eventually all this competition came to an end – all to benefit Kremlev.

 “Rubezhnoi simply had Putin sign all the necessary decisions,” says a businessman familiar with Kremlin officials.

In the fall of 2020, the State Duma passed a law that no longer allowed TsUPIS and Qiwi to operate in the market simultaneously. According to the new regulation, all bets had to pass through a single center to be chosen by President Putin. Even the adoption of this law was accompanied by an unprecedented rush. The president may have personally called State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin to have the law passed in just one week , according to an acquaintance of the Kremlin × .

In August 2021, Qiwi’s stock plummeted by 7% at once , reaching an all-time low since the company’s IPO in 2013 × the day Putin appointed Kremlev’s TSUPIS as the unified operator of all betting operations in Russia, according to an acquaintance of Kremlev’s. This is how TsUPIS became ETsUPIS, with E standing for “unified”.

To supervise the bookmakers, the government also created the Unified Gambling Regulator (ERAI) instead of the two self-regulatory organizations, and it too came under Kremlev’s control. The supervisory board of the ERAI includes two members of the executive board of the Russian Boxing Federation, Oleg Saitov and Kirill Shchekutiev (who has common business with Kremlev). One Alexei Grachev became its director. His number is saved in other people’s contact lists as “Alexei Grachev Umar” – he used to work in companies associated with Kremlev.

In other words, within a year and a half, Kremlev became the main player in the Russian betting market: the three largest betting companies, the betting accounting center and control over all bookmakers ended up in his hands. Putin effectively handed the entire multi-billion-dollar betting market to a friend of his chief security guard.

Khan of Serpukhov

Rubezhnoi’s friendship with Kremlev brings dividends to both of them. Kremlev, who is not a civil servant, not only does not hide his wealth, but actually flaunts his luxurious lifestyle . In his social network accounts, he posts videos of business jet flights and trips in luxury cars, gifts apartments and cars to ordinary people, and raffles off 100 iPhones among his followers × .

More and more objects and companies in the Moscow Oblast are being transferred to Kremlev. For example, the assets associated with former head of the Serpukhov District Alexander Shestun have been transferred to him . We are talking about the Drakino Park Hotel, stores and warehouses × . Shestun calls Kremlev the new “Khan of Serpukhov” and claims that Kremlev even gets what the Podolsk gang used to control.

Another interlocutor of Proekt says that the interests of Kremlev, who enjoys protection from the FSO, have spread to the zone of Luchok and Rotan’s influence. In particular, this concerns the Moscow Oblast science towns of Protvino and Pushchino, which have historically been in the Podolsk gang’s sphere of interest. Kremlev indeed has plans to build a large science cluster in the Serpukhovsky District , Novaya Gazeta wrote × , for which he has created a company called Bolshoi Serpukhov.

Officials are now trying to please yesterday’s criminal. Serpukhov head Sergei Nikitenko and his deputy Tatyana Orlova were guests at the birthday party of Kremlev’s mother, where her son even brought Philipp Kirkorov.

The family of Rubezhnoi, who officially earns 5-7 million rubles a year, has to hide their true income more carefully. However, Proekt still managed to uncover some of their hidden assets.

In 2023, Rubezhnoi’s eldest daughter Nadezhda bought a very spacious residential house 482.3 sq.m. × and three large plots of land totaling 1,770 sq.m. × in the elite village of Semenkovo near Rublyovskoye highway.

Such a large purchase cost her only RUB 88 mn, although similar real estate in this area costs at least twice as much . This can be established by analyzing house listings on the TsIAN website × . The generous seller turned out to be a certain Maxim Kotkov. What is important to know about him is that he is an advisor to Kremlev in the RBF and a business partner of his sister Takhmina Mokan.

However, it would be impossible for Rubezhnaya to save up even almost 90 million rubles: since 2021, she has been working at Rosneft (the head of this company, Igor Sechin, sits with her father on the supervisory board of the RBF), where she has received a total of 16.4 million rubles for all that time. The daughter of the president’s security chief has not previously owned any real estate to be sold and invested in the purchase of this house.

The origin of the real estate of Rubezhnoi’s wife Irina, who has never been officially employed , according to the Russian Pension Fund. Alexei Rubezhnoi’s anti-corruption declaration shows that between 2016 to 2021 his wife has earned 1.7 million rubles from the sale of a land plot and a car × cannot be explained either.

Despite zero income, in 2018 Rubezhnaya bought an equally spacious residential house 464.8 sq.m. × with a land plot 1,394 sq.m. × in the elite settlement “Western Residence” also near Rublyovskoye highway for only RUB 33.9 mn. Similar houses in “Western Residence” are two or three times more expensive . This can be established by analyzing house listings on the TsIAN website × .

Kremlev, his nominees and partners, as well as the FSO press service did not respond to Proekt’s inquiries and calls.

* * *

Lutfulloyev’s 2010 name change helped him once again 10 years later, when Kremlev became president of the International Boxing Association (IBA) . The story below is presented from the words of Kremlev’s acquaintance × . The IBA was then headed by Uzbek criminal mastermind Gafur Rakhimov (also known as Gafur the Black) – he was in trouble not only with the law, but also with the International Olympic Committee, which threatened to strip the IBA of its accreditation if Rakhimov did not step down.

“Kremlev put his best foot forward: Rakhimov received a call from Ramzan Kadyrov, who has friendship and religious ties to the Uzbek mafia (most likely at the request of Rubezhnoi or even Putin) and suggested that Umar be put in his place. Delimkhanov even visited him for a personal conversation,” says Proekt’s source.

As a result, another man with a criminal past won the IBA elections instead of Gafur the Black – 57% of the association’s members voted for Kremlev. The IBA – either formally or sincerely – started a disciplinary inspection of the past of the new head. This is where the new surname played a role – unlike Lutfulloyev, Umar Kremlev has no criminal record.

As with the RBF, the global organization was also plagued by problems at the time of Kremlev’s arrival. Multi-million dollar debts, accusations of corruption and a ban from the International Olympic Committee, which barred the organization from participating in the Olympic Games. The new president signed a sponsorship contract with Gazprom, which helped pay off the debts, but was not approved by the international boxing community and the IOC. With the outbreak of war in Ukraine, the political confrontation with the IOC has only intensified.

Now Kremlev fiercely criticizes the IOC and personally its president Thomas Bach. At the same time, he organizes tournaments that are not recognized by the global Olympic movement.

He organizes boxing fights in countries friendly to Russia that have not yet left his organization and promises to build boxing centers for them in return.

“He is clearly favored by the Kremlin. They help him meet with leaders of countries. Not the top ones, but still important ones,” says his acquaintance. Over the past two years, Kremlev has met with the presidents of Cuba, Nigeria, Nigeria, Tajikistan and Palestine, as well as the Pope.

During Putin’s recent trip to China, Kremlev was part of the official delegation. During the signing of the agreement between the Chinese authorities and Russian Post, the delighted Kremlev even got into the shot. The thing is that the new director of the Russian Post, Mikhail Volkov, is a former subordinate of Kremlev. Before that, he worked as director of Sport Lotteries, the company that the authorities gave the right to sell Russians the hope of easy winnings.

Editing – Roman Badanin
Fact checking – Ekaterina Reznikova