In society

Officials and scumbags

September 14, 2006 Alexey Makarkin

The murder of Alexei Kozlov at first glance looks strange. The state power has intensified, it seems, almost to the limit - and one of its leading representatives in the banking sector dies at the hands of hired killers. However, upon closer examination, you understand that there is no contradiction here.

In the 90s, which are considered a period of criminal lawlessness, administrators of such a rank were not killed. Yes, Mikhail Manevich died, whose murder has not yet been disclosed. But he was the vice-governor of St. Petersburg, who managed city property-that is, the figure of the regional, who directly dealt with issues in which the St. Petersburg crime had a purely concrete interest. Yes, there were attempts on Andrei Vavilov and Sergei Dubinin, but you cannot call attempts to kill them, paradoxically. The explosion of a car, in which the first deputy minister of finance could not at that moment, and the shelling of the apartment of the Chairman of the Central Bank at the time when he and his family were in the country - all this was nothing more than an attempt to “warn” the official, to force him to refrain from making a certain decision. So in those cases, one could only talk about imitation of attempts (behind which there were not “scumbags” at all, but people are rational, prudent and, apparently, not devoid of external respectability), and not about serious attempts to destroy an unwanted official.

The fact is that the “showdowns” in which leading government officials were involved, they took place at a completely different level, where “scumbags”, ready not only to warn, but also kill, simply did not allow. The state itself tried without much need not to interfere in the system of relations, which has developed in a cloak, which was a placed business. “Slodes” acted on the lower floors of the system, where they were in contact with federal average rank and regional chiefs. It is no secret that at the same time a powerful system of criminal banks was created in the country, through which a huge number of shadow operations took place - up to the point that the ransom for the life of the stolen people was transferred not from hand to hand, but transferred to bank accounts controlled by bandits.

Now the situation has changed: the intensified state is moving into those spheres where it used to be noticeable as its presence as an organized force. As part of this process, trying to put things in order in the industry, the first deputy chairman of the Central Bank Andrei Kozlov began the fight against plaster -criminal banks, which were engaged in cashing or laundering of funds. According to media reports, only this year the Central Bank, at the initiative of Kozlov, withdrew the license from 40 banks, and this was not the limit. It is possible that one of those who stood in line for the feedback could not withstand the nerves-especially since they were used to shooting in the criminal environment without particularly thinking about political risks (often the bandits are simply not able to evaluate such risks, care only to destroy a person who was on their way). A visual example is the death of the newly recognized head of the Almaz-Antei holding Igor Klimov in 2003: the killers did not stop the fact that it was about the trusted person of one of the main Kremlin administrators Viktor Ivanov.

The death of Kozlov showed that the state at the moment is not able to provide its managers with a sufficient degree of protection against “scumbags”, which they confront on duty. The authorities have accumulated considerable experience of fighting a political opposition, which is suspected of “orange” intentions, but when it comes to the need to confront the bandits, even the current seemingly strong state demonstrates inefficiency. Now the authorities will be able to rehabilitate itself only if the crime is quickly disclosed, and all its perpetrators (from performers to customers) are called name and devoted to the court.

Author - Deputy General Director of the Center for Political Technology


It was one of the best officials
Vitaly Nayshul, president of the Institute of National Model of Economics

It is very difficult for me to talk about this murder . I am not aware of the business component of these cases. In addition, this is my former close acquaintance. I have known him since the beginning of the 90s. In detail, people who are aware of banking cases should analyze what happened. I can say that this is one of the best Russian officials whom I knew in my life. A very conscientious person. This opinion does not belong to the present point, but to the assessment of the personality of Andrei Kozlov as such.

Kozlova destroyed banks
Leonid Grigoryev, President of the Institute of Energy and Finance

The motive here is certainly professional. Kozlov himself was a very quiet, family man. In the personal sphere, he could not have any problems. He was responsible for licensing and closing the "bad" banks. Probably the story with the banks destroyed it. Most likely, someone was badly injured here. I am almost sure that this was the reason for the murder. There was a very loud and scandalous story. When you close several hundred banks and are not going to stop, you can have no doubt that you will make yourself enemies. Of course, he touched on some criminal interests. It was objectively a very dangerous activity. Alexey Makarkin

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