Exodus of the murderer

The long-standing battle between bandit Ascheulov and journalist Afanasyev has come to an end. The leader of the gang went missing in the Northern Military District

Andrei Ashcheulov (Ashcheul), the leader of the Kuraginsk organized crime group, went missing in the Northern Military District. This group was also called the Ascheulovskys. News now comes to Russian freedom from captivity - the prison was the first to learn about Ascheulov’s fate: in any case, the news first came from there. It was confirmed later that he was free. All sources reporting to Novaya about Ascheulov’s disappearance mention approximately the same circumstances under which his disappearance occurred, and they leave almost no doubt: he died.

Thanks to Ashcheulov, in the center of Asia in the last decade, its own Kushchevka appeared: in this area in the south of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, although the land is not as fertile as in the Krasnodar Territory, it is blessed by Siberian standards, and there was not enough of it for everyone. All the areas reclaimed from the taiga and mountains are occupied. It was in the Kuraginsky district that Vissarion’s community settled; people came here from all over the former USSR, from the countries of Eastern Europe. Ascheulov's thugs broke into houses at night and the door was opened for them (one of them dressed up in a police uniform).

They broke the bones of women with bats to rip earrings out of their ears. Fractures of the occipital bone, frontal bone, base of the skull, open comminuted fractures of the bones of the hand, fingers, etc. People were mutilated in order to rip off their pectoral cross, if it was gold.

Cruelty and violence are unmotivated, pathological, Kushchevsky. Novaya wrote about this in 2016–2017, as well as about another direct analogy with Kuban Kushchevka - the absence of a state here. It seems that all the episodes were recorded in their multitude, and cases were started (later they would all be united), but even if Ascheulov was taken away, after a short time he was again seen on the streets of his native Bolshaya Irba, in the regional center of Kuragino, in Koshurnikovo, and everything continued. They took him and released him - on a subscription. Or they tightened administrative control for him in court from twice a month to three times a month (!). Such control was established for him for three years after his first long imprisonment, from 2004 to 2012 - then they barely waited for him to come of age and was imprisoned for causing grievous bodily harm resulting in death.

According to the rules, throughout the three years of administrative control, Ascheulov was not supposed to leave the house from 10 p.m. to 6 p.m. Moreover, almost all of his adventures are nocturnal. It was inexplicable. To my perplexed questions at the Krasnoyarsk headquarters of the Ministry of Internal Affairs they answered: this is “good work by lawyers.” And - to be continued. Then, when they firmly decided to take the gang, the decision to arrest was made by the court of the neighboring district - Minusinsky.

And the main similarity with Kushchevka is the fear and silence of the locals.

And the defeat of the gang in 2016 began not even from the neighboring region and not with instructions from Krasnoyarsk - everything started from the territory of Khakassia, a neighboring subject of the Federation. Igor Filchenko, a retired police major and former head of the duty unit of the Kuraginsky District Department of Internal Affairs of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, came to Abakan to visit journalist Mikhail Afanasyev. And he spoke on camera about what was happening in the Kuraginsky and Idrinsky districts.

The publicity was noisy, the state did not immediately move. While it was waking up, Ashcheulov managed to promise Afanasyev terrible death throes, for which (both for threats and for obstructing journalistic activity) he was given two years and one month. In total, for all the episodes he received 18 years and two months of special regime. Nevertheless, he said that he would be out soon.

And indeed, the plot turned upside down: the one who exposed Ascheulov, journalist Afanasyev, sat down. And he has been in prison since April 2022 for “fakes” about the Armed Forces (he received five and a half years). And Ascheulov was released: he went to the Northern Military District and returned. 39 years old, a man in his prime. And the saga continued. In full, apparently, in accordance with the aspirations of the local population. The population, which at first remained silent while Ascheulov’s fellows went on a rampage, broke the bones of girls and old women, then thanked Afanasyev for getting rid of Ascheul, then remained silent again when Afanasyev was imprisoned and Ascheulov was returned to them.

This splendor was interrupted as expected.

In May 2024, a drunken and still unbalanced Ascheulov wantonly killed a passing cyclist, 50-year-old Anatoly Khokhlov. Father of many children. He took aim, almost point-blank, in his face with a hunting rifle.

The investigative committee later clarified that the detainee “does not remember what happened, but I am sure that the murdered man was rude to him.”

The Abakan military court gave Ascheulov eight years of strict regime. And he again left for the Northern Military District.

Afanasyev watched the new adventures of his character from behind bars. Here are excerpts from his letters to me over the years:

“<...> perhaps I would not have had my 48th summer ( this is July 2024, Afanasyev turns forty-eight. - A.T. ), if I had not ended up in prison. After all, Ashcheul was probably looking for me after his triumphant return. And this thought that that father of many children took my bullet in the face is more and more with me.”

“I remember how Kuragin policemen carefully approached me through Minusinsk. Like, is it possible to publish about the lawlessness of the authorities against us and about the Ascheul gang, which so easily evades responsibility? But most of all I was shocked by the reaction of the residents of the area after my and then your publication. Everyone seemed numb, as if they didn’t believe that someone was not afraid to publicly, to the whole wide world, tell about an unsinkable gang of thugs that was keeping residents in fear. And in the bitterness of powerlessness - local honest security forces. And when Ashcheul was taken after your publication, it was as if liberation from the hated yoke had happened for the people, I’m not exaggerating at all. People could not believe and realize that everything became possible after the journalists’ articles. It seemed to them that the gang wouldn’t take anything if they were constantly being released, but here were journalists.

Ashcheul believed and had no doubt in his impunity so much that even his wife or sister wrote to me on Odnoklassniki and threatened me with terrible torment before death.

And when it became clear that Ascheul was packed up and everything was definitely serious, dozens of locals a day were added to my “friends”. And everyone has one thing: “Thank you.” People, as if looking around and being cautious, began to believe that there could be life without the scumbag Ascheul. To be honest, I myself didn’t know when this whole story began that the bandits frightened people so much with their unsinkability.

Then some guy came to me especially in Abakan, we sat with him in the editorial office, and he seemed to want to make sure that I was there. That there is a publication. That all this is real. He kept asking me: “Can this really be?” I remember he told me about M., that he also terrorized people with absolute impunity, established his own gangster rules and forced the locals to live by them. But a certain avenger was found, waited until M. came out into the fence of his house, and shot him through the fence. Like, this is what gangster impunity leads to. And here you can beat the bastards with words. He asked if he could count on me in other people’s troubles, made it clear that he would bring important information about how the trial of Ashcheul would go, and left. People then seemed to believe in the emergence of an antidote to their troubles.

We talked with a woman whose son the Ascheulovskys killed in the forest, dismembered, and scattered his body parts. I just don’t know if they were charged with murder. ( No. - A.T. ) She worked at the railway all her life and raised her son alone. He in the gang actually helped the operatives to expose them, the Ascheulovskys somehow figured him out, or someone betrayed the guy. His mother thanked me too.”

“And I have news. Andrei Ascheulov was brought to the neighboring maximum security IK-33 ( Afanasyev himself is in IK-35 of Khakassia. - A.T. ) to serve his sentence for the murder of Anatoly Khokhlov. Compared to the previous imprisonment, the term is shorter and the regime is simpler. Ashcheul is growing. Most likely, he will be recruited again and go “there”. He will definitely maneuver and return as a hero, with a medal and the right to extinguish with impunity everyone who does not like him. Then our time will come for you and me for deliberately lying libels against a worthy person, a real hero, a true patriot of our native land.”

And finally, the last letter:

“<...> a young guy from among the recent arrivals came up and asked: did you write about Ashcheulov? I answer. He tells me: Ashcheul, when he was very young, tried to drag him into his gang under pain of violence. And even this guy was watching one businessman, but, fortunately, he managed to somehow get away from the dangerous path. Ashcheul, he says, was a noble scoundrel. He told me a lot about his affairs. And I say “was” because they killed him. An acquaintance says that he went to fight again and their entire group died on the next mission. Ascheul’s body, he says, was not even retrieved. But in today's times, it turns out he is a hero. And in his small homeland they will give him full all honors, rest his sinful soul, Lord. This is the heroic end of a murderer.”

I contacted the retired Filchenko, from whom, as Afanasyev puts it in his letters, “the light began on the Ascheul gang and criminal lawlessness in the south of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.”

Filchenko didn’t know, but made inquiries. This is true. I'll omit the details.

Afanasyev writes with bitterness that Ascheulov “in modern times, it turns out, is a hero,” and he himself is an outcast, he writes and does not seem to believe that he will be given all the honors, and to me such results of their confrontation seem incredible. But why? After all, even if you don’t remember who the previous Soviet government considered a socially close element and who the current government relied on, even if you don’t go beyond these two destinies, Afanasyev and Ashcheulov, then everything is extremely clear. And no game of chance. Just reinforced concrete cause-and-effect relationships.

For example, Afanasyev publishes an audio recording of Ashcheul’s threats: “Great, suicide bomber. I'm already nearby. I'll tear everything away for you. Record this conversation, run to the police, write a statement... If they can’t put me in prison for five years... Etc. Ashcheulov wanted one thing: for Afanasyev to delete his material about him. But why? By that time, it had already been on the site for a month - and there was no reaction. Acrobat Afanasyev jumped under the circus big top without insurance and alone. Nobody was interested.

Nevertheless: “Listen, you bastard, where are you now?” Afanasyev then asked Ashcheulov something like that, and he fell silent. “Speak, and I’ll come right now,” said Afanasiev. And I believe I would have come.

Well, Afanasiev publishes the recording, and this time the state reacts. The Yenisei department of Roskomnadzor demands that the material be removed (or beeped): the bandit is swearing there, and this is prohibited by law. The fact that threatening to kill a journalist is also prohibited by law did not interest Roskomnadzor at all (believe it or not, one of the functions of this agency is to protect the rights of journalists). The government agency and the scumbag who beats old women and girls with bats reveal a common interest - both demand that Afanasyev remove the articles.

Further - more interesting. After the noise raised, including by international organizations, the security forces suddenly began to act. Ashcheul and his henchmen were caught because they, as usual, grabbed a case of beer from the store without paying. Investigative work began. But here’s what happened in the case of obstruction of a journalist’s professional activities: it was led by RF Investigative Committee investigator Sharavin. It would seem that the whole texture is there. It was only necessary to take an explanation from Ashcheulov himself. He, however, refused the request of the RF Investigative Committee to leave the cell. And investigator Sharavin, “having analyzed the results of the inspection,” refused to initiate a criminal case against Ashcheulov. (Well, remember how, in the case of the murder of Boris Nemtsov, they tried to bring Ruslan and Artur Geremeev for interrogation? They answered from Chechnya that during the departure to the place of residence of first one brother, then the other, no one opened the doors to their houses.)

Literally: “at the request of the investigator of the Kuraginsky MSO of the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the Krasnoyarsk Territory A.S. Sharavin about giving explanations on the material of the inspection about the obstruction of the legitimate professional activities of the journalist gr. Ashcheulov A.A. refused to leave the temporary detention cell and refused to explain the reason.” Summary: “Involvement of A.A. Ashcheulov. no crime has been established. The inspection also did not establish intent on the part of the person who made the call ( as in the document - A.T. ) to obstruct the legitimate activities of the journalist.”

That is, they demanded that the material be removed from the site, threateningly. But somehow unconsciously, without intent. And no one knows who.

Later, the prosecutor's office canceled Sharavin's decision and sent the materials for additional verification.

Well, or here’s the story with other threats to Afanasyev - it strangely continued in the case against Afanasyev, initiated after the start of the SVO in 2022. From Afanasyev’s letter:

“Recently I was leafing through the materials of my case at the insistence of Vasin [the lawyer], and my eye somehow caught the testimony of a certain Nikolai Nikolaevich Volkov. He said that my reader has always been indignant at my articles because there is untruth in them. I couldn’t remember for a long time who he was, until it dawned on me: after all, this is our old acquaintance. Do you remember, in that year 2016, which was fruitful for threats, I was promised a verdict by the gang and Anatoly Bykov by the Abakan recidivist Nikolai Volkov? He also called you and explained his camp logic, and after your material about those threats, real authorities from Miami called Volkov, asked him to calm down and warned him of responsibility if he did not understand. Volkov understood everything and disappeared from the radar.

This is the same repeat offender, and the investigation asked him to give me a description, and he was smart enough to add it to the case. Now this is a legal fact: the investigation turned to the criminal to characterize the journalist. There is somewhere a recording of his threats to me on the Internet. <…> These are the metamorphoses. I have no assessments of this, only hope that one day the darkness should be replaced by light.”

Yes, I myself read those pages with the testimony of Volkov, a local authoritative representative of patriotic-criminal circles. I read it in 2022, when Afanasyev’s closest relatives were still in Abakan and had the investigation documents in hand. And this, of course, is striking - the choice of a person who is obviously biased as a witness. There was a loud story about those serious threats, and the investigation could not have been unaware of the acute conflict between Afanasyev and Volkov. Well, someone probably might not have known, but operational search activities in the case of journalist Afanasyev were carried out by FSB officers, then the investigator for especially important cases, Colonel Natalya Bogdanovich, took over the matter. The head of the Fourth Investigative Department of the First Directorate of the Regional Investigative Committee (Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Republic of Khakassia), Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Kashkarev, decided to create an investigative group consisting of two more of the same “important people”, a colonel and a lieutenant colonel, to assist Colonel Bogdanovich, as well as one senior investigator, a lieutenant colonel. (Can anyone in retrospect imagine the same activity in the Ashcheulov case? Or that Afanasyev would suddenly be released from custody, saying “you have good lawyers”?) In short, the stars on the shoulder straps dazzled the eyes. That is, Volkov’s choice could not have been accidental.

And in general there is nothing accidental in this plot, it just seems that the world has turned upside down. No, he's still the same. The all-pervasive ambivalence in our life, like radiation, is revealed, for example, by language, the eternal “good conquers evil” is suitable for any of its results, grammar allows us to come to exactly opposite conclusions, both about the victory of good and the victory of evil, and it is no one’s fault that many are inclined to read this phrase one-sidedly.

And okay. What, in the end, can this cancel or change in our destinies? Let at least someone read it anyway. It would be nice to avoid being too categorical. Do not write that “good always triumphs over evil.”

Because only one thing remains with us (who is still here, who is alive) - these short, unhappy lives. Local Red partisan Sergei Kochetov recalled both opponents and fellow travelers in the steppes of Tuva and Mongolia at the end of the Civil War: “thousands of tired Russian people wandered,” they simply had nowhere to go.