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An Azeri vendetta: Russia’s crackdown on an “ethnic organized crime group” has collided with Putin’s former classmate
On June 27, during a Russian law enforcement raid in Yekaterinburg, ethnic Azeri brothers Ziyaddin and Huseyn Safarov were killed. The incident sparked an international scandal. Azerbaijan summoned the Russian ambassador, canceled all concerts by Russian performers, and detained local employees of Russian state-controlled media outlets Sputnik and RT. Russia retaliated. On July 1, special forces raided the mansion of Yusif Khalilov, the leader of the Azerbaijani community in Voronezh. On July 3, Russian authorities stripped Elshan Ibragimov — the head of the Azerbaijani diaspora in the Moscow Region and an authorized representative of the regional governor — of his Russian citizenship. That same day, authorities arrested Vagif Suleymanov, a criminal boss who controlled several Moscow markets, along with Zaur Shipilov, a criminal “overseer” in Orenburg. However, Shahin Shikhlinski, who had been detained in Yekaterinburg, was released almost immediately after a phone call “from the top.” It was later revealed he had ties to close associates of Vladimir Putin.
Contents- 1.Wrong target
- 2.Why were the Azerbaijani nationals detained?
- 3.The “boss” of the Urals
- 4.A business empire
Wrong target
On July 1 in Yekaterinburg, Russian security forces detained Shahin Shikhlinski, head of the Azerbaijan-Ural diaspora group. Officers from Russia’s National Guard shattered the side windows of Shikhlinski’s Mercedes G-Class with a hammer and crowbar, forced him face-down on the ground, and placed him in handcuffs. His son, Mutvaly, who was driving the vehicle, was released. Shikhlinski was informed that he was being taken in for questioning — as a witness — in connection with a criminal investigation into contract killings.
Pro-government media outlets and bloggers quickly seized on the story with headlines like “The Shadow Boss of Yekaterinburg Has Fallen” and “Unambiguous Message Sent to Baku.” However, after a phone call from Russian Investigative Committee head Alexander Bastrykin to subordinates in Yekaterinburg, Shikhlinski was released and issued an apology.
After a phone call from Alexander Bastrykin, the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, Shikhlinski was released and issued an apology.
Shikhlinski later revealed that billionaire Ilham Rahimov, a former classmate of both Putin and Bastrykin at Leningrad State University, played a key role in securing his release: “If Ilham hadn’t intervened, the Azerbaijani diaspora could have suffered more from these actions. My personal release was only possible thanks to his involvement.”
Putin and Rahimov in Azerbaijan
The Russian officers involved in the operation now face the prospect of being dismissed from service, and their colleagues are reacting with skepticism. “But why? They were given an ops alert, the car’s plate number, and told that Shikhlinski was the leader of a gang who needed to be intimidated before questioning,” said a source from the Sverdlovsk Region Interior Ministry in an interview with The Insider. “They thought, ‘We’ll lock him up and report it to Moscow.’ But the guy had powerful connections. Now the National Guard is blaming the FSB, and the FSB is pointing fingers at the police.”
Why were the Azerbaijani nationals detained?
Shortly before Shahin Shikhlinski’s arrest in Yekaterinburg, Russian security forces carried out sweeping raids on properties associated with his business clan. Fifty individuals were brought in for questioning. According to Svetlana Petrenko, spokesperson for Russia’s Investigative Committee, the operation included 14 searches, 11 inspections of vehicles and non-residential premises, and 10 witness interrogations.
Two of those detained, the brothers Ziyaddin and Huseyn Safarov — died shortly thereafter in circumstances that remain unclear. Three others were hospitalized with broken ribs and concussions.
The official pretext for the detentions was a series of unresolved contract killings in Yekaterinburg that took place from 2001 to 2011. One such case involved the 2001 murder of Yunus Pashayev, a clothing trader at a local market. Another was the attempted assassination in 2010 of businessman Fekhruza Shirinov — a key witness in the Pashayev case. In that instance, the gunman’s weapon jammed, and Shirinov survived. On August 8, 2011, other hitmen targeted Ikram Gadzhiev, owner of a produce warehouse; he was shot in the head and died later in the hospital.
During the June 2025 raids, Bakir Safarov and Akhliman Ganjiev were arrested and charged with Pashayev’s murder. Soon after, Russian authorities detained Akif Safronov, Ayaz Safronov, and Mazakhir Safarov on the suspicion that they were involved in other killings. Mazakhir reportedly gave a confession.
Shikhlinski was present at several court hearings related to pretrial detention, acting as a public advocate for the accused. Notably, he was accompanied by Shohrat Mustafayev, Azerbaijan’s Consul General in Yekaterinburg. According to members of the diaspora, Shikhlinski had previously requested that the former consul, Ilgar Iskanderov, be recalled to Azerbaijan — allegedly because Iskanderov refused to support him in a power struggle within the Azerbaijani community.
The “boss” of the Urals
Some media outlets have labeled Shahin Shikhlinski as a “smotryashchiy” — a criminal overseer for the Urals region. Travel blogger Alexander Lapshin, known for his visits to Nagorno-Karabakh, publicly accused Shikhlinski of involvement in a plot to assassinate him, allegedly at the behest of Azerbaijani intelligence services.
However, police records show that Shikhlinski has no prior convictions. The only mark on his record is from the early 1990s, when the Sakhalin Regional Directorate of the Interior Ministry listed him in the “extremists” category.
Until 2018, Shikhlinski worked as a lawyer with the Sverdlovsk Regional Bar Association. Since 2023, he has served as chairman of Azerbaijan-Ural, a national-cultural organization. He has also been listed as an external legal advisor to the Department of Internal Policy within the Sverdlovsk Regional Administration.
“By nature, Shahin Mutvaliyevich is a very sociable person,” wrote the Ural publication Oblgazeta. “He initially supported the development of the existing Azerbaijani community organization ‘Nizami.’ In 2001, under the initiative of Heydar Aliyev and Vladimir Putin, the All-Russian Azerbaijani Congress was established, and Shahin Shikhlinski became its vice president. He has received awards for public service from both the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation.”
Shahin Shikhlinski
During his tenure at the All-Russian Azerbaijani Congress, Shahin Shikhlinski became acquainted with influential members of Russia’s Azerbaijani elite — most notably Ilham Rahimov, a billionaire businessman and university classmate of Vladimir Putin’s. These relationships would later prove instrumental in shielding Shikhlinski from criminal prosecution.
The Insider has obtained documents from a 1999 criminal intelligence case file codenamed “Akay,” opened by the Organized Crime Control Department (RUBOP) of the Sverdlovsk Region’s Interior Ministry. The primary subject of the investigation was Novruz Abbasov, a “vor v zakone” (lit. “thief in law,” a criminal authority) known by the alias Zaour who was the leader of the “Siniye” (lit. “Blues”) organized crime group.
An excerpt from the file reads:
“Members of Abbasov’s criminal group maintain interregional and international connections. They travel to Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Sochi, Tyumen, and Miass in the Chelyabinsk Region, as well as to Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. They are involved in the production and distribution of counterfeit vodka, the illegal drug trade, and the laundering of proceeds through operating commercial entities. They also commit general criminal offenses including pimping, extortion, theft, robbery, and assault.”
The “Siniye” (lit. “Blues”) organized crime group
Among Zaour’s closest associates, 15 criminal figures were listed — including Shahin Shikhlinski (though it is important to note that internal operational materials from security services and informant reports cannot be considered evidence of any individual’s involvement in a crime). As a former officer of RUBOP told The Insider on the condition of anonymity, Shikhlinski “didn’t go to gang showdowns or armed meetings” and was “something like a legal adviser, a man of the law, or a consigliere.”
The officer added: “But of course, he was aware of almost everything. After Zaour died from drugs, Shikhlinski cleaned up the brigade. [He] got rid of the other drug addicts and drunks and made money, not bar fights or swaggering in nightclubs, the top priority.” According to The Insider’s source, overseers from Moscow’s thieves-in-law who came to the Urals with complaints against Shikhlinski eventually found themselves behind bars.
Shikhlinski has repeatedly been the subject of reports in local media. The TV company Krik-TV even sued him after a security guard in the Baku Plaza shopping mall, which belongs to his family, demanded that a cameraman delete footage. In response, Shikhlinski’s lawyers also filed lawsuits against journalists, bloggers, and civic activists, demanding the removal of publications that “contain defamation and insult the honor and dignity of the Azerbaijani community.” The Azerbaijani Consulate General in Yekaterinburg frequently got involved in these disputes, using diplomatic channels to pressure the Russian authorities.
A business empire
Shahin Shikhlinski has built a business empire across the Sverdlovsk Region, with interests spanning the petroleum products trade, as well as alcohol and timber. He owns shares in several markets, has opened auto repair shops and restaurants, and built the Baku Plaza shopping center in Yekaterinburg — the official owner is listed as Inessa LLC (ООО «Инесса»), whose founders include Shikhlinski’s wife Almaz and eldest son Emil. The land under the building is leased until 2067.
Initially, it was announced that the shopping center would host a store selling Azerbaijani carpets and a small café. However, it quickly filled up with company offices, fashion boutiques, retail stores, a pharmacy, a beauty salon, and the upscale restaurant Nar&Sharab, which seats up to 450 guests.
“Fire safety officers, district police, trade regulators, and the health department — after inspections, they would leave smiling, carrying large bags. Local officials, law enforcement officers, and staff from the Azerbaijani consulate all dined for free at the restaurant. We wanted to do a report [on it], but were forbidden,” one local journalist told The Insider.
The Baku Plaza shopping mall in Yekaterinburg
Baku Plaza became a constant irritant for local “Russian patriots,” who filed complaints and anonymous reports to various agencies. Particularly active was Sergey Siov, head of the Yekaterinburg Committee for Public Oversight. He organized numerous protests against the construction of the shopping center and sent dozens of complaints to the FSB, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Investigative Committee, and Prosecutor’s Office. The Insider found that Siov, who portrays himself as a crusader against “ethnic lawlessness,” is listed in a special Interior Ministry registry — he was caught selling a fake diploma in 1998 and was convicted of armed robbery in 2018.
Another enthusiastic witness against “mafia boss” Shikhlinski was Vidadi Mustafayev, former president of the regional Center for Azerbaijani Culture, Youth, and Sports, who has long aspired to lead the Azerbaijani diaspora in the Urals. “Vidadi was constantly running to Vaynera Street to see General Igor Nikolaev, head of the Sverdlovsk regional FSB, telling him that Shahin was storing weapons and drugs in the mall,” a well-informed source in Yekaterinburg told The Insider.
Meanwhile, Mustafayev himself is listed as an intermediary in a criminal case involving a bribe of 10 million rubles (just over $125,000) allegedly paid by former Sredneuralsk Mayor Andrei Zashlyapin to an FSB officer in the Sverdlovsk Region.
Meanwhile, the high-profile criminal investigation into the “ethnic organized crime group” from Yekaterinburg has been transferred to the central office of the Investigative Committee in Moscow and placed under the personal supervision of chairman Alexander Bastrykin. As was previously mentioned, Bastrykin and Ilgam Ragimov — who came to the defense of his compatriot — studied law together at Leningrad State University and remain close friends.
The case will likely be quietly closed, and the witnesses, following the advice of their attorneys, will claim that they falsely accused a respected figure after being pressured by investigators.
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