The background to the murder of the director of a defense enterprise, who was personally appointed by the president, has been revealed
On June 6, 2003, one of the most notorious crimes in the history of criminal Russia took place. At the entrance of his house 4 on Krymsky Val at 7:40 a.m., Igor Klimov, acting general director of the Almaz-Antey Air Defense Concern, was shot dead.
This was the first case of a contract killing of an important official appointed to a responsible post. personally by Vladimir Putin.
Today, when the Russian defense industry has come to the fore, we decided to recall that high-profile case and its background. The Klimov case is an investigation by the famous detective writer Eric Kotlyar.
The building of the Almaz-Antey Concern.
We must explain to the modern reader that these events took place twenty years ago, when the crime situation in the country was different.
During his time at the helm of power, the new president brought society and business to life, which now, especially after the start of the SVO, began to work in the interests of the country and its defense. Twenty years ago, the economic situation in Russia depended exclusively on private initiatives aimed only at personal enrichment, often at the expense of state resources. At the same time, the state lost many positions, especially in the defense industry, which the willful predatory business of those years considered as an opportunity to transform it into profitable industries. On the site of former machine-building factories, buildings of shopping and entertainment centers and even retail markets were erected. Russia quickly turned into a country of shuttle traders… Among government officials, only a few tried to resist the arbitrariness of recklessness and defend the foundations of the country's industrial development, without which Russia was threatened with the fate of a banana republic.
Igor Klimov and his team were just such rare defenders of the national interests of their homeland. In business circles they were considered “Soviet idealists”, an obstacle to the “green paradise” that opened the gates to the “American Dream” for enterprising citizens. This continued until 2000, when, with the advent of Putin, radical changes in life in Russia began.
Igor Klimov served as acting general director of air defense » Almaz-Antey Concern.»
The Almaz-Antey Concern was created on April 2, 2002 by presidential decree. The president appointed FSB General Viktor Ivanov, deputy head of his administration, as chairman of the board of directors. For the role of acting Ivanov recommended the general director to the president of the young Igor Klimov, whom the general knew well as a skillful and energetic production worker in St. Petersburg.
Almaz-Antey included 43 enterprises in the Russian defense industry, their production is the security of the country. The concern consisted of two important associations, the main military-technical industrial structures.
On the fateful day, Igor Klimov left the house and headed to the official car. His wife stood on the balcony and waved to him. And at that moment a blond guy in a camouflage uniform with a plastic bag in his hand appeared in front of Klimov. He forcefully pulled the briefcase with documents towards him. Klimov resisted. And then, as eyewitnesses later showed, several bangs were heard. The attacker fired through the bag without drawing his weapon. He shot four times in Klimov's chest. Shots at point-blank range did not leave the official a chance to live. But what’s amazing is that despite severe wounds (one of the bullets hit the heart, the other in the lung), Klimov not only got into a fight with his executioner, but was also able to take away from him a package with a revolver equipped with a silencer. How he managed to do this remains a mystery to this day.
The wife immediately ran out into the yard! Klimov’s strength quickly left him. The dramatic scene was captured by external surveillance cameras installed on the wall of a Japanese restaurant, not far from the scene of the incident. Despite the poor image, it was still possible to clarify some signs of the killer, and they were immediately sent to all police posts. The Vulcan-5 interception plan carried out in the city did not produce results. The killer managed to escape from the scene of the crime, leaving everyone who was associated with Klimov through work and operational services with a field for different reasoning.
There were many high-profile crimes in Moscow in those years. But before this incident, a person so close to the president had never been killed in the capital. As Viktor Ivanov defined the task, solving this crime is a matter of honor for the entire law enforcement system.
On August 26, 2003, the head of the MUR department for solving special high-profile crimes, Andrei Potekhin, sent one of the most experienced detectives, Igor Akulinichev, to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation to the head of the department of the ministry, Andrei Shilovsky.
Everyone who was supposed to participate in the investigation of this murder, unique in its audacity, gathered at Shilovsky’s. Valery Khomitsky, Andrey Potekhin, Igor Akulinichev, Ildar Gainulin, Oleg Stefanitsa, Ilger Aliev. The success of any investigation depends on how the investigative team is selected. The team should not only consist of experienced professionals, but also be a well-coordinated team that can reason together. It was a great success for the investigation that these people got together then.
Their mutual understanding, cohesion and professionalism should certainly have led to success in this difficult and complicated matter.
The investigation was headed by investigator of the Prosecutor General's Office Valery Khomitsky. Khomitsky is a strong-willed person and persistent in achieving his goals. It was he who was given complete carte blanche in actions in the case of the massacre of Klimov, which from the very beginning was under the control of the Presidential Administration. When familiarizing themselves with the materials of the criminal case, it became clear to all group members that the success of the disclosure could only be ensured by deep analytical development, huge in volume and requiring a long time.
They had to rummage through a sea of documents, interview many people and live with the victim again his life. And, moreover, to plunge into the dark abyss of human vices, which pushed out from its depths the murderer of one of the most significant officials in Russia.
The revolver from which Klimov was shot.
Operas know that sometimes a crime is committed for the most bizarre reason, lost in a secluded corner of life's path. Therefore, nothing can be ruled out in the murder of Klimov, not even his childhood.
And Khomitsky and Akulinichev conditionally divided Klimov’s biography into two periods. The first is the October Pioneer-Komsomol before the events of perestroika and the second is from the milestone that changed the structure of our entire existence — after 1985.
The first, rather cloudless and not promising any discoveries for the investigation, had to be soon postponed in order to focus on the much more important beginning of his business and rather stormy career for Klimov.
The attention of investigators was drawn to Klimov’s years of work at the St. Petersburg plant named after Shaumyan, serving the needs of the fleet. The plant was located in the very center of St. Petersburg, on fifteen hectares of precious land. Unfortunately, at that time the importance of an object was assessed not by its values, but by the space it occupied on earth. Those who in the new era received the right to manage the country's economy were of little interest in the concerns of the fleet for which the plant operated. But any opportunity to make a profit was welcomed. And a struggle developed around the plant with the task of freeing up the area it occupied for profitable construction.
And only when a serious threat loomed over the entire Russian Fleet did the authorities taking care of state interests become alarmed and sent Igor Klimov to “resolve the situation.”
Klimov had to bring together all the structures affiliated with the plant and beat off the hands of those who were stirring up market chaos around the secret production, and also restore the integrity and production efficiency of the plant’s facilities.
Klimov assembled a reliable team of people loyal to him: Boris Pereverzev , Ruben Narimanov, Mikhail Ivanov, Elena Neshcheret.
This team defended the plant and revived its role in the defense of the country. As Klimov taught his comrades, the interests of the fatherland are above all, there can be no personal benefits at the expense of the state.
At that time, the case was amazing.
Klimov and his comrades managed to keep the state from dissipating share of the plant's shares. It was not an easy fight with a business for which the concept of profit was the only compass for criminal grabs.
It was not easy to defeat those who were considered an example of successful business management in those years. Klimov’s team managed to defend the interests of the state.
Klimov was appreciated, and soon he received an appointment to Rosrezerv. And again, the most important state site, plundered, plundered and partially appropriated by the “trump” gentlemen, who auctioned off food supplies, warehouses, strategic assets intended for emergency situations.
And again Klimov gathers like-minded people and begins the fight for state truth, empty quixoticism, from the point of view of Russian precocious “capitalists”.
From Klimov’s point of view, on the contrary, all these would-be entrepreneurs who crawled out of the cracks are destroyers of a healthy economy…
And here a labyrinth of mysteries arises before the operational-investigative team. Where should we look for the roots of the crime? There are plenty of people dissatisfied with the principled Klimov both at the Shaumyan plant and at Rosrezerv. There, too, he directed the flow of budget money exactly for its intended purpose.
A year before the murder, Klimov, as a staunch statist, was sent to the complex system of Almaz-Antey enterprises. Here new puzzles awaited him.
“Almaz” and “Antey” are two competing productions before their merger, which produced essentially the same combat installation, but at different speeds.
Whose priority is recognized will receive a production order , and this meant huge budget money. Putin decided to unite these organizations in order to neutralize disputes between the gray-haired designers of the leading defense industry.
Before Klimov, the united production was headed by Yuri Spirin, who previously headed Antey. In his opinion, the project should have been built on the basis of his production.
When Klimov arrived, another proposal appeared: to create a new system based on the installation produced by Almaz. This could give rise to many dissatisfied with the decisions of the new acting. But, in addition, Klimov discovered the embezzlement of $73 million by the former leaders of Antey.
Back in 1999, an agreement was concluded with Greece on the supply of Antey products to this country. In addition to the 800 million dollars allocated under the agreement, Greece paid another 73 million, which disappeared into thin air.
Klimov decided to deal with this unpleasant matter on his own and discovered a loss in the deposits of foreign banks in offshore zones.
According to Klimov’s statement, the Prosecutor General’s Office opened a criminal case in which the deputy general director of “Antey” Vorobyov and one of his deputies, Alekseev, were accused.
Further — more, the head of the First Capital bank, Igor Komarov, came under investigation. Allegedly, using his official position, he concluded false deals, and the Almaz-Antey concern lost the right to an income of $12 million.
Each period of Klimov’s business relations is an endless chain of offended functionaries and exposed in fraud, among whom the initiator of his murder could well be hiding.
But in addition to direct thefts, Klimov was caught in another production collapse. The association's factories lacked components. Previously, they were produced by factories based in Belarus and in different cities of Russia. And everywhere capacity and space are being taken away and production is being stopped. Someone, however, tried to resist being pulled away, as Klimov did. Somewhere, honest leaders became entangled in the web of theft. As a result, in 2001, only two units of products planned under the agreement with Greece were produced.
Leading academics turned to the government — the country’s defense shield is being destroyed, it is necessary to immediately stop the collapse of the “defense industry”!
< p>And Klimov was once again entrusted with enormous responsibility, and with it hopes. By the way, in Ryazan, where components from non-ferrous metals and gold were produced, the director of the plant, Shchetko, was killed on the same day as Klimov. Another headache for Valery Khomitsky and Igor Akulinichev!
Klimov managed to gather at one table the directors of all forty-three productions, which were almost owners when the young leader arrived, and convince them that the state prerogative remains decisive in the concept concern.
Another very difficult thing was achieved — to reconcile the two leading designers of Antey and Almaz. Only Klimov was able to convince long-term competitors of the need to work in friendship and harmony. And if we consider that before his arrival, each of the honored creators of the defense industry could also count on the position of general director, it is clear that the young and energetic leader probably did not enjoy the sympathy of the old workers. In general, it was impossible to discount any of the versions, not a single touch that could arouse even the slightest suspicion.
Even the powerful structure of Rosoboronexport. All contracts for the international sale of Russian weapons went through this important organization. But Klimov achieved the exclusive right to enter into independent agreements with foreign partners for the sale of the concern’s products. And these are huge profits flowing away from Rosoboronexport.
All documents for independent sales of products to foreign buyers were signed personally by Klimov. He received help from government circles. Still, a lot depends on the individual. And Klimov has proven himself as a person. After his death, contracts for the sale of missile launchers abroad remained the prerogative of Rosoboronexport. This means that we need to check for the likelihood of a threat from this side as well.
There are a lot of versions, but almost no real clues. A faint image on a cheap street camera of the scene of a fight between Klimov and his killer and also a revolver, which by luck turned out to be at the disposal of the investigation.
Not much. How long does it take to solve such a high-profile case with almost zero initial data? Akulinichev decided — at least a year.
— What are you guys doing? — the prosecutor's office and the ministry were indignant, — tomorrow…
— No, — Akulinichev stood his ground, — a year, or maybe more.
The first step was to comprehensively highlight Klimov’s entourage at all stages of advancement up the career ladder. But this is not enough; one also had to understand the range of personal interests of the victim. Anyone can hide a skeleton in their closet, regardless of public fame. Andrey Potekhin began conducting analytical searches at MUR on his own. And although his name was not included in the order with the names of the participants in the investigation, Potekhin, passionate about his work to the point of fanaticism, could not stay away. His “desk search”, and he was one of the first in the MUR who used computer capabilities to help operational work, helped a lot by checking the facts that the detectives found every day. And by November, it became clear to everyone who had sifted through a bunch of documents, reviewed countless folders with acts and agreements, and talked with an army of employees of organizations from Klimov’s Moscow period that the investigation would most likely have to focus on the St. Petersburg life of the deceased. This was also indicated by the fact that everyone who was close to Klimov and fought off attacks on the Shaumyan plant from St. Petersburg criminal circles died for various reasons.
In February and July 2002, in St. Petersburg, the director of the industrial and commercial company Ruslan, Ruben Narimanov, and the general director of the Shaumyan Plant CJSC, Mikhail Ivanov, were shot dead. Another comrade-in-arms of Klimov, Pereverzev, died strangely.
And in October, after Klimov’s death, Elena Neshcheret was stabbed to death at the entrance. Thirty stab wounds. With her went information about the movement of accounts. All the documents from her safe were stolen.
They don’t just kill people like that. Especially those who were connected by business and were part of the team assembled personally by Klimov.
Despite constant advice that the killers and customers should be looked for in Belokamennaya, the group nevertheless decided to do otherwise and moved to the banks of the Neva. The unanimity between investigator Khomitsky and the detectives helped. Harmony of views is an important quality in search practice.
In St. Petersburg, Muscovites did not advertise their presence very much. For a long time, local authorities were not informed about the purpose of their business trip. Muscovites carefully looked at their St. Petersburg colleagues and chose one of them — the senior officer for especially important cases of the homicide department of the SPUR, Mikhail Alekseev. The St. Petersburg detective successfully joined Khomitsky’s team. As a “local specialist,” he provided invaluable services to the investigation.
At the same time, weapons seized at the murder scene were examined. The revolver handed over to the investigation seemed to call for revenge on those who cut short Klimov’s successful life.
The revolver he took from the killer was simply obliged to “speak.” And so it happened.
The barrel from which Klimov was killed has an amazing and rich combat biography. It was produced in Belgium in 1898 according to the 1895 model. Mark is Leon's revolver.
To restore his history, operatives had to rummage through archival volumes of three to four hundred pages each. A revolver was discovered according to the documents of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate (the successor to the artillery directorate of the tsarist army). However, the history of the trunk was restored only up to 1917.
On the instructions of the emperor, five thousand officer revolvers and fifteen thousand soldiers were purchased for the army from a Belgian manufacturer.
The difference between an officer’s revolver and a soldier’s revolver was that the first was self-cocking, while the second required the trigger to be pulled back manually.< /p>
By decree of the Tsar, the contract with the Belgian manufacturer was revised, the proportions of arms supplies to Russia changed. Fifteen thousand for the officer corps and five thousand for non-commissioned officers.
For some reason, the revolver in question had a double mark on it. And this greatly complicated the research.
According to the documents of the Moscow Assembly of Nobility, revolvers were awarded by the emperor personally to officers who distinguished themselves in the service of the Fatherland.
At that time it cost a huge amount of money — thirty-seven and a half rubles . The rubles were completely gold. (The general received about one hundred rubles a month.)
Detectives discovered petitions on behalf of two generals addressed to His Highness with a request to reward Leon with a revolver and… refusals of the royal court.
Two highly qualified weapons specialists (one of them is a Tula gunsmith, a man in love with history weapons, another archivist, demobilized back in the sixties and living in Nakhabino) explained that all antique weapons were inventoried in 1935, and then in the post-war period, when the country was literally flooded with weapons.
In those years, during registration, this barrel could be branded in the OGPU and even in the People's Commissariat of Agriculture, which had military powers to protect the state food reserve.
Leon's revolver could have ended up in Russia as a trophy. Before World War I, the tsarist government allowed the purchase of this type of short-barreled weapon for further resale to the public.
Belgian law enforcement agencies informed their Russian colleagues that a fire occurred at the Leone factory, which destroyed the enterprise, and when German troops entered Belgium, they simply seized the warehouse arsenals with all their contents.
All that the detectives managed to find out was that the revolver was not subject to repair, it has been preserved since 1898 without alterations. Its category is second. The first is an unfired barrel, the second is if up to a hundred shots were fired from it, the remaining categories are from a thousand shots or more. Such weapons are not spared and sent to be melted down.
All this was important to the investigators. Representatives of the old noble families are still alive in St. Petersburg. By the number of the revolver, one could determine the name of its owner and stretch a thread to the killer who used the unusual weapon.
However, Khomitsky and his comrades were not very lucky with the revolver. It was not possible to establish who and why branded the revolver a second time. We tried to conduct a comparative analysis. Check with similar trunks. It turned out that out of twenty thousand revolvers of the Leon Nagan brand, only a few are “alive” today. One, dug out of the ground, rusted and good for nothing, adorns the stand of the Museum of the Armed Forces, one was present at an American auction, another revolver was found during the dismantling of an old house in the center of Moscow, it has not yet been discovered, but its number is different , which does not coincide with the killer's. Another gun was stolen in 1980 at the Baltiyskaya station from a policeman who was attacked. Incredibly, this soldier’s revolver had no number.
And so in 2003, Murovsky detectives and an employee of the Prosecutor General’s Office were forced to check all the registers to find the number of the stolen revolver. For some time, hope began to glimmer — after all, the unique trunk fell into the hands of bandits. Maybe he wandered until they found a use for him in the murder of Klimov?
How much patience and strength this required is hardly possible to estimate even in a detailed story! But the team was constantly being urged to speed up the work.
The people of St. Petersburg were literally clutching their heads — the set pace of the search was frantic. Murovites asked all St. Petersburg airports and bus terminals to find out who left the city before the day of the murder. They questioned traffic police inspectors to see if there had been any suspicious detentions of personal vehicles.
In parallel with the materials being studied in St. Petersburg, Andrei Potekhin’s computer did not stop lighting up. Analysis and practical method «at random», as the opera search at random is called, is sometimes focused. And the point of their intersection begins to blink with an alarming light. It was impossible for Potekhin to carry out such titanic work without this point signaling.
To be continued in the next issue.
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