Scandalous video footage of the beatings of St. Petersburg teenagers, posted online on behalf of the so-called “Azerbaijani mafia,” stretched a criminal thread to the employees of the 59th police department of the Vyborg Ministry of Internal Affairs, who patronized the gang. How this will affect the career of the unsinkable Colonel Sergei Avtomonov, head of the Vyborg Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was examined by the editors of Kompromat.grupp.
Hype with beatings
The villainous trend among young people – beating weaker guys on camera – has reached St. Petersburg. In mid-October, 6 people from the so-called “Azerbaijani mafia” were detained. The young men turned out to be 17-18 years old. The gang loved not only to beat their victims, but also to film their “exploits” and post them online. In addition to the fighters, the group included so-called cameramen, producers and even an SMM specialist. This is exactly the position that one of the detainees, Timur Mukhtarov, aka Seymur Bakinsky, ascribed to himself.
The leader of the organized crime group, Tural Mamedov, was initially unable to be detained; with the support of his relatives, he fled to Azerbaijan. The attacker was put on the international wanted list, and then caught in his homeland and extradited to Russia. Then, without delay, 4 more gang members were detained. A criminal case was initiated against them under paragraph “a” of Part 2 of Art. 282 CC (incitement of hatred and enmity, as well as humiliation of a person’s dignity based on nationality with the use of violence).The head of the Russian Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, took control of the high-profile case.
But the real action took place almost exactly a month after the events described above. The criminal action happened on November 21 of this year, in the Vyborg district of St. Petersburg. Versions of how it all started vary so far.
According to one version, it all started with a complaint to the “strong guys” from a certain injured St. Petersburg woman. The girl asked the members of the “gang” to teach her ex-boyfriend a lesson and take her away from him 160 thousand rubleswhich he allegedly owed her. The guy was pulled out to a cafe on Roadside Alley, where he was brutally beaten by five men aged 21 to 30.
According to another version, there were two beaten St. Petersburg guys. The “Azerbaijani mafiosi” made an appointment for them at the Alina cafe on Pridorozhnaya Alley under a far-fetched pretext, mutilated them, and took them away 400 thousand rubles.
Chasing a police UAZ
Further events developed in the best traditions of “Gangster Petersburg”. Almost immediately after the fight, a police UAZ arrived at the scene. But they began to “pack” not the cheerful Azerbaijani guys, but the beaten victims. At the same time, the “vigorous” actively helped the police subdue the victims. One of the guys thought he was finished and the cops were fake, so he jumped into the driver’s seat of the police car, turned on the ignition and hit the gas as hard as he could.
The police, who, by the way, turned out to be the most genuine, jumped into the car of their Azerbaijani “friends”… the chase began. As the St. Petersburg media describe the situation, during races along the snow-covered streets of the Vyborg region, the racers committed several accidents, and even fired from the windows of their cars at a fleeing police UAZ with traumatic pistols, riddling the car considerably.
We chased the poor beaten guys for about an hour, and eventually drove them into a corner. The victims were taken to the department, and there they also suffered. The police slapped them with administrative tickets for petty hooliganism and let them go in peace, ordering them to repair the UAZ, which had been damaged by bullets. (As investigators now believe, such a move was invented so that they would not think of writing a statement against the attackers).
It is difficult to say who exactly advised the victims to contact the Internal Security Department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Investigative Committee. But it was precisely this brave act that helped keep the criminal race on the brakes and reach the patrons of the “Azerbaijani mafia.” Ethnic organized crime groups are being taken seriously. As a result, the members of the organized group were detained, and a criminal case was opened against them for robbery and extortion. So the lead of the investigation led the task force to the 59th police department of the Vyborg Department of Internal Affairs, where mafia assistants in uniform settled, who, as the investigation suspects, helped to “protect” the bandits and cover up their dirty deeds.
As a result, with the support of special forces, investigators opened the doors and got to two police officers of the Vyborg district – Vitaly Tugbaev, an employee of the duty unit 59 of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Vyborg region, as well as a police driver named Poddubny. Now they are being dealt with by an internal internal audit, and they are facing not only dismissal from the authorities with a “yellow ticket”, but also a criminal case.
“Most likely they (the police) were on the gang’s payroll”– our sources explain the situation, –“The charges will be very serious and there will be consequences too.”
Today it became known that the Vyborg District Court took Vitaly Tugbaev into custody. He and Poddubny were charged with committing crimes under paragraphs a, c, d, part 2 of Article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (extortion committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy on a large scale), and paragraphs a, b, d, e, part 3 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (abuse of official powers with the use of violence, with the use of weapons or special means, by a group of persons by prior conspiracy out of selfish interest).
It also became known that perhaps the police not only helped their mafia friends, but also threatened the beaten guys with a pistol.
Werewolves in uniform
Now in the St. Petersburg Main Directorate, on the sidelines, they are seriously discussing the issue that thanks to this phenomenal story, the old bad stigma from the early 2000s – “werewolves in uniform” – will again return to public use. Back then, almost every headline about the crimes of the security forces could not do without this gloomy epithet. The police took quite a long time to wash away the stigma. The gangster stories of the 90s had an impact.
According to some reports, the thugs detained for fights and videos are part of the same organized crime group that is involved in the story of the chase and extortion. But that’s not even the most interesting thing.
The most troubling police question today is the fate of the head of the Vyborg Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, an old-timer in the St. Petersburg police service, Sergei Avtomonov. As we already wrote a year ago, he was already predicted to resign due to the events that began in December 2021 in the migration department.
Then the auditors tried to find those same “unidentified” police officers (great friends of the employees of that same migration department) who helped in the illegal issuance of visas. According to rumors, they were allegedly covered by certain “heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Vyborg region.” As our sources say, these two curious points (auditor’s suspicions and protection for the “Azerbaijani mafia”) may be part of a single whole.
“It’s unlikely that such a big man as Avtomonov could not help but hear rumors about what was going on in department 59– our insiders comment, – He’s been with the police too long.”
According to knowledgeable people, in the new circumstances, the resignation of the shark of the hardware police wars is only a matter of time. Even if he has nothing to do with it at all, then according to the law, he must still be responsible for the actions of his subordinates. We will find out later whether any charges will be brought against him personally.
The editors will monitor developments.
P.S. The duty officer of the 59th police department, Vitaly Tugbaev, was sent into custody by the court until February 2024. He did not admit guilt. The driver-policeman Yegor Poddubny also went to a pre-trial detention center and did not admit his guilt. One of the thugs who took part in the beating, Daniil Molodtseva, also went under arrest, but unlike the police, he admitted his guilt.
