by Elena Kuleshova
[REGNUM] The Yekaterinburg judicial machine continues to work on the case of a series of murders of ethnic Azerbaijanis committed in the city in the early 2000s. The latest defendant, Shahin Lalayev, has appealed his arrest. One mafioso, whose name has not been released, testified against his accomplices. Six people are suspected not only of the massacres, but also of selling poisoned alcohol that destroyed dozens of Yekaterinburg residents' lives. All six are considered to be representatives of an ethnic criminal group that emerged several decades ago. How did ethnically colored crime emerge in the Urals, and has it now been reliably defeated?
A representative of Shakhin Lalayev, a defendant in a case of an organized crime group (OCG) in Yekaterinburg, has appealed the decision to place him in custody. This was reported on July 3 by the press service of the courts of the Sverdlovsk region. "A complaint was received from a lawyer regarding Lalayev," the TASS source said. On July 2, the eighth defendant in the same case was arrested. "The Leninsky District Court of Yekaterinburg considered the investigator's petition and chose a preventive measure in the form of detention for suspect Aziz Abasov until July 19," the court's press service reported.
HOW A DEFENDANT IN THE AZERBAIJANI ORGANIZED CRIME CASE “CRACKED”
As reported by the representative of the Investigative Committee (IC) Svetlana Petrenko, one of the accused has already given a confession - he spoke in detail about the crimes during the verification of testimony on the spot, thereby exposing accomplices.
"Depending on their role and degree of participation in the commission of crimes, five of them have already been charged under the following articles: 'murder committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy', 'murder for hire', 'attempted murder for hire'," Petrenko listed on the Investigative Committee's Telegram channel." The motive for these crimes, as the investigation believes, was the division of spheres of influence in business, as well as personal revenge."
The investigation is being conducted not in Yekaterinburg, but in Moscow, at the main office of the Investigative Committee.
Kommersant, citing a source close to the investigation, reported that the suspects will also be checked for involvement in another crime — the illegal trade in counterfeit alcohol. The trade in such counterfeit goods in 2021 led to the deaths of 44 residents of the region.
HOW AN AZERBAIJANI CRIMINAL ENVIRONMENT EMERGED IN THE URALS IN THE EARLY 90S
The history of the Azerbaijani criminal diaspora has its roots in the 90s, when the country was at a political turning point, recalls retired lieutenant colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, candidate of historical sciences Oleg Ivannikov.
"The data on ethnic crime in the 90s is incomplete. At that time, groups from Azerbaijan used corruption within law enforcement agencies. They bought Russian passports. Russian citizenship helped them to legalize themselves, to legitimize their business schemes. It can be said that now, when the authorities of Azerbaijani organized crime groups are going to jail, law enforcement officers are restoring historical justice. They are restoring order," the officer noted in an interview with IA Regnum.
According to Ivannikov, representatives of the Azerbaijani diaspora in the capital of the Urals were involved in almost the entire spectrum of crimes prescribed in the Criminal Code. "They did not disdain anything. From selling drugs, bottling counterfeit vodka, from which our citizens died, to selling flowers that had clear signs of infection with various types of fungi and were therefore prohibited for sale by Rospotrebnadzor. At the same time, murders were constantly happening in the city," the expert is indignant.
Member of the Yekaterinburg Public Chamber, President of the Civil Security Foundation Dmitry Chukreev complains that the organized crime group diaspora has survived in the city. “It was these entrepreneurs who facilitated the production of alcohol with the presence of methanol, and then they sold it. The most notorious case was in 2021 — mass alcohol poisoning in the region. They brought in low-quality alcohol — methyl alcohol, which was distributed mostly through people from Azerbaijan,” Chukreev told Regnum News Agency.
At the trial for the poisoning, the diaspora defended the arrested compatriots - they hired lawyers for them, he recalls. "But they were accused not of petty hooliganism, but of serious crimes," Chukreev is perplexed.
WHAT AZERBAIJANI CLANS FORMED IN THE 90S IN THE CAPITAL OF THE URALS
In Yekaterinburg, trading stalls, stands, and kiosks began to appear back in the 1990s, and even then, representatives of the Azerbaijani diaspora began to bottle counterfeit vodka, Chukreev complains.
"Since the 90s, clans have formed in the Yekaterinburg diaspora: the Dzhavadovs, the Gambarovs, the Safarovs. Since then, this story has been growing little by little. They were always envied for being so good at trading: vegetables, fruits, alcohol, tobacco. Alcohol was a particularly profitable product. Of course, there are honest sellers, but there is also organized crime," the activist explains.
Ivannikov notes that the Azerbaijani criminal group operated in Yekaterinburg mostly autonomously. “Usually, ethnic groups are limited to internal communication – as a rule, they are relatives, they know each other well. Only in rare cases do they contact other organized crime groups. The structure of the Azerbaijani criminal group resembles the Italian “Cosa Nostra”. For comparison: Armenian criminal groups are more socialized, and they have a certain restraining factor in the form of Orthodoxy. Azerbaijani criminality does not have this,” Ivannikov notes.
On June 28, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation reported the suppression of the activities of a gang guilty of a series of assassination attempts. Security forces detained more than 50 natives of Azerbaijan in Yekaterinburg. According to investigators, the defendants were involved in the deaths of Yunis Pashayev, an Azerbaijani native, in 2001, and Ikram Gadzhiyev, a citizen of that country, in 2011, as well as in the assassination attempt on businessman Fekhruz Shirinov in 2010. Eight people were taken into custody.
The capital of the Urals remembers these crimes. In 2001, the death of Yunis Pashayev, who sold clothes at the Tagansky Ryad market, caused a lot of noise. According to unofficial information, he paid "tribute" to one of the clans. When Pashayev quarreled with his "roof" and refused to continue paying, he was stabbed to death by unknown assailants. The murder took place near the Metalon cafe - reportedly, the killers surrounded him with a whole crowd.
The second attempt was a direct consequence of the first. Entrepreneur Fekhruz Shirinov could not forgive the diaspora leaders for Pashayev's death and constantly hinted to his acquaintances that he was preparing to take revenge on the participants in the massacre. It is assumed that the clan decided to get rid of Shirinov. However, when the killer - also from Azerbaijan - fired at the businessman with a pistol, there was a misfire. Shirinov managed to detain the shooter himself. He was eventually convicted, but he never gave up the names of those who ordered the killing.
To commit another crime, which is now being charged to the clan's representatives, in August 2011, Azerbaijanis from neighboring Tyumen were invited. As a result, the owner of a local vegetable warehouse, Ikram Gadzhiev, was shot in the head. The relatives of the deceased did not seek justice in Russia and hastily left for Azerbaijan.
WHAT WAS THE BALANCE OF POWER IN THE CRIMINAL WORLD OF YEKATERINBURG IN THE 90S
In the 1990s, three groups were considered the most powerful in Yekaterinburg: the Blues, the Centers, and the Uralmashs, experts recall. The gangs fought among themselves, often engaging in armed "showdowns." Ultimately, the Uralmashs emerged victorious.
The Blues, which emerged in the late 1980s, were under Azerbaijani influence. Presumably, its leadership included Novruz Musib-oglu Abbasov ("Zaur"), a native of the Azerbaijani city of Terter, and Karo-oglu Dzhamalovich Mamedov ("Karo"), a native of Tbilisi.
There were many ethnic gangs operating in the Sverdlovsk region, consisting of people from the Caucasus and Central Asia. They were mainly under the control of the "Blues". The organized crime group got its name due to the abundance of tattoos on their bodies (at that time it was not yet fashionable). The group consisted of classic criminals who were fundamentally against any cooperation with the authorities, so they avoided officially registering their businesses. It is believed that the "Blues" were involved in organizing fraud, manufacturing and selling counterfeit alcohol, and reselling stolen cars. The group controlled several clothing markets.
Of the region's major cities, the Blues were most active in Nizhny Tagil and cities where "places of imprisonment" are located. Presumably, they had secret connections in government bodies, law enforcement agencies, and among administrators in places of imprisonment. The Yekaterinburg cafe "Caspian" was considered the base of the Azerbaijani diaspora.
GENERAL RECALLS OUTRAGEOUS CASES
As Vladimir Mikhalevich, a retired police major general and deputy head of the "Officers of Russia" organization, recalls, there were all kinds of ethnic organized crime groups in the 90s: Azerbaijani, Armenian, Dagestani, and there were also Russian ones: Tambov, Moscow, and so on. "There are ethnic groups - and we need to put things in order in this regard. Why do they interfere in the affairs of law enforcement agencies? Why do we need to immediately come as a diaspora if someone is detained? We have one people in Russia, we should all be together," the source told IA Regnum.
"For some reason, ethnic communities always rush to stand up for their own! This is wrong." There was a case when a traffic cop near Novosibirsk accidentally shot an ethnic Azerbaijani, the interlocutor recalls, "so he was almost killed, threats came from the diaspora, the traffic cop had to hide. A crowd gathered near the police station, shouting that they would cut out his entire family. What is this?!" the general is indignant.
"We often slip into the position that what a Russian can't do, a newcomer can. What nonsense! This is our country, our children and grandchildren will live in it. Let them work - they will raise the economy, like all of us. And if they break the law - let them answer on the general basis," Mikhalevich sums up.
Earlier, the Federation Council stated that no ethnic diasporas will be able to impose their rules on Russia. The head of the constitutional committee of the upper house, Andrei Klishas, emphasized that everyone in the country will live by the laws. As previously reported, all those taken into custody in Yekaterinburg are Russian citizens, although of Azerbaijani origin. Therefore, the investigation and trial of them remain an internal matter for Russia.
HOW THE DIPLOMATIC DISPUTE BETWEEN MOSCOW AND BAKU DEVELOPED
Shortly after the mass arrests in Yekaterinburg, two of the defendants died. According to preliminary data, one died of heart failure. The cause of death of the second person is being established. The bodies of the deceased were delivered to Baku. According to the Azerbaijani authorities, forensic examination recorded traces of violence. Baku protested this to Russian diplomats.
In Azerbaijan, events involving Russian delegations have been cancelled, Russian journalists have been taken into custody, as well as 8 more Russian citizens. Moscow and Baku have exchanged notes of protest, and diplomats have been summoned to the Foreign Ministry. On July 2, the Russian Embassy reported that Russians in Azerbaijan are complaining en masse about physical violence by "policemen" and document checks.
On the evening of July 3, it became known that the Prosecutor General's Offices of Russia and Azerbaijan had established regular contacts on the current agenda, the priority being the protection of the rights of citizens of both countries. This was reported by the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation. Later, Baku media wrote that five detained Russian journalists had been released. Those released have Azerbaijani citizenship.