| The Ministry of Internal Affairs exposed a former sergeant The leadership of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced yesterday that another gang of “werewolves in uniform” had been exposed. As a result of the operation, which was carried out by the forces of the Main Directorate of Internal Security (GUSB) and the FSB, so far only a certain Sergei Kudinov, who several years ago resigned from the unit for the protection of buildings and facilities of the Moscow Central Internal Affairs Directorate, has been detained. According to information from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the former sergeant was part of a criminal group of police officers who offered “protection” to businessmen, and if they refused, they set the bandits they knew against them. As Acting Minister of Internal Affairs Rashid Nurgaliev (replacing Boris Gryzlov, who is on “pre-election” leave) said yesterday, the exposure of these “werewolves” was the result of “planned work” to cleanse the police ranks.
Yesterday, as part of this case, searches were carried out in the buildings of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation at Zhitnaya, 16, the Department of Economic Crimes of the Moscow Main Internal Affairs Directorate and the OBOP Department of Internal Affairs of the North-Eastern District of Moscow. According to preliminary information, the “gang of werewolves” included a former senior investigator of the GUUR of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (he processed the transfer to the OBOP of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Central District of Moscow) and several operatives of the Moscow UBEP and OBOP of the North-East Administrative District. The names and positions of the members of the criminal community have not yet been made public; it is only known that there are at least six of them.
The development of the group began several months ago, when an entrepreneur, the owner of a store in the Beskudnikovo district, contacted the GUSB. He said that employees of the UBEP and OBOP began to “biasedly” inspect his store, and a certain citizen Kudinov offered to settle all the problems with a one-time payment of $10,000. For further “peace of mind,” the businessman was offered to pay another $2,000 monthly. In case of disagreement, the businessman was threatened that he would have to deal with the “brothers”, and not with the police. The investigation has evidence that Kudinov hinted to the store owner: “It could be the same with you as in 1996.” And in 1996, the victim was beaten with baseball bats by representatives of one of the capital’s criminal gangs for refusing to pay tribute. In addition, the store director was threatened with reprisals against members of his family, and these threats were allegedly recorded on film. A criminal case has been opened against Sergei Kudinov for fraud. But the Ministry of Internal Affairs believes that this is only the beginning of another high-profile corruption scandal. Yaroslav ZORIN |
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