Russian criminals` protection contracts with police to be terminated
An Interior Ministry official has vowed to do away with an arrangement which allowed criminal bosses to hire police
as bodyguards. An article in a Russian newspaper exposes a long-running scheme set up by dubious personalities in the
Russian business world which gave them priority and protection on the roads. Now the Interior Ministry has created a
special structure to combat this phenomenon. The following is the text of report by Russian newspaper Moskovskiy
Komsomolets on 1 June. Subheadings inserted editorially.
Police protection for criminals
January 1997. Vasiliy Naumov (a.k.a. Naum), the leader of Koptevo organized crime group, is in a hurry to attend to
his bandit affairs. As his motorcade pulls over to the capital police headquarters, a hail of bullets bursts from a car
parked nearby. A submachine gun burst pierces Naumov's BMW. The thug dies on the spot.
The scandal following Naum's murder was unprecedented by the standards at the time. Not even because bandits had
never before dared shoot each other right at the walls of Petrovka [seat of Moscow police headquarters], but because, as
it turned out on the same day, the leader of a major criminal group rode under escort of police bodyguards. Naum's
precious life was protected by GUVD's [Internal Affairs Main Administration] Saturn special-purpose squad. The
policemen did not only accompany the criminal on his trips but they also guarded his apartment and office. They did it
absolutely legally because the company Merando, whose president Naumov was, and the GUVD had signed an official
contract...
That was seven years ago. What seemed wild in 1997 has become commonplace today. The police-bandits stereotype,
"we chase them, they run away", which had formed over decades, was broken completely in the late
1990's.
In those years, nothing was off limits. Yet, the height of fashion among entrepreneurs and criminals was driving cars
with blue licence plates reserved for the police. First, the blue plates let you drive with wind whirling in your hair.
Second, nobody ever examined such cars, which allowed you to carry in them anything, be it fresh corpses or hexogen.
Third, this was a source of special, absolutely unique pleasure and self-satisfaction. Only yesterday, you, like a
trapped wild animal, dashed around and flinched at every sound of sirens. But today, you have exactly the same siren
wailing under your hood, with mere mortals jumping away in all directions and GAI [State Motor Vehicle Inspection
Administration] officers hurriedly saluting you.
How police number plates were obtained
There were several methods of obtaining the police licence plates. One is as follows. A public foundation signs a
contract with the Internal Affairs Ministry "for providing charitable services". As one of such
"charitable services", the foundation allegedly gives the ministry a car. As this car becomes a police one on
paper, it requires the blue plates.
The whole trick was based on the fact that the handover was carried out exclusively on paper. In reality, the
foundation still used the car, which already had the special licence plates. (In my archive, I have several such
contracts, including one original, which features the Zashchitnik [Protector] Foundation, close to the Internal Affairs
Ministry leadership at the time).
This scheme, excellent in all respects, had only one shortcoming: It could not cater for everyone. After all, you
would not want to fix special registration for a thousand "charitable" cars. (But even if you did, how would
you later explain their absence?).
Then, the entrepreneurs wearing police shoulder straps recalled the teachings of the late Naum. Why bother, if you
can take care of the problem in an absolutely legal way, obtaining police cars without resorting to charitable chimeras?
Indeed, this option was perfect. The Internal Affairs Ministry has a special service, the Extradepartmental Security
Administration (UVO) - even its name makes it clear that it can protect anything: an apartment, a company, a
warehouse.
There was one hitch, though. According to an Internal Affairs Ministry order issued back in 1997, the UVO was allowed
to guard "property of private and legal persons". The order did not say a word about the persons
themselves.
But what are legal obstacles for if not for side-stepping? If you think about it, what is "property"? It
can be a necktie. And even underwear.
A citizen has a wallet? It is just this wallet that police will protect. Meanwhile, the citizen will stand beside as
a free attachment to this invaluable wallet. Nothing to find fault with.
In 1999, the extradepartmental security service started signing hundreds of contracts for "escorting"
wallets. Merchants of all stripes, semi-criminal bosses very quickly figured out what broad horizons were opened up
before them.
For 1,000 dollars a month, they obtained full ownership of a car with police markings and a couple of submachine
gunners - and together with them, the possibility of feeling untouchable because it was in fact a blanket ticket that
they bought for 1,000 dollars.
It is not befitting for gentlemen to get squeezed in traffic jams and queues. And so motorcades of limos swooshed
along reserved and opposite lanes with formidable-looking police jeeps in the tail. (The "wallet-carriers"
bought the jeeps with their own money and then registered them temporarily with the Internal Affairs Ministry).
Anyone who at least once drove their cars along Moscow streets at rush hours certainly saw this picture. They saw and
cursed silently. When you are pushed away by presidential bodyguards or a ministry limo, it may be unpleasant but still
understandable. The president and ministers have at least some privileges before ordinary mortals. But what privileges
does a brazen semi-criminal hurrying to a sauna or for a rendezvous with his mistress have?
Take, for example, the now late Anton Malevskiy, the leader of Izmaylovo organized criminal group. This legendary man
peacefully rode around in his car accompanied by police bodyguards. No Internal Affairs Ministry official cared about
his previous arrests or the fact that in 1998 Malevskiy was deported from Israel as a person threatening national
security, where he hid from the Russian court.
Or take another "criminal authority," Arnold Spivakovskiy (a.k.a. Arnosha Solntsevskiy), one of the leaders
of Solntsevo group, its brain and wallet. He was detained many times and even spent six months behind bars. Once he was
set free, he started driving a jeep adorned with flashers. Spivakovskiy drove under police escort until the last day -
until the author of these lines sent an indignant letter to the Internal Affairs Ministry's Main Administration for
Extradepartmental Security [GUVO] chief.
Only then was Spivakovskiy stripped of his police escort. At the same time, it turned out that the protection was
already once taken away from him but later, behind the Internal Affairs Ministry's back, the contract was resumed.
Formally, the Moscow GUVD's UVO signed the contract with the Pekin hotel complex, where Spivakovskiy was
registered.
"Extradepartmental protection" under review
"It is the worst problem," Internal Affairs Ministry's GUVO chief Mikhail Sukhodolskiy explains.
"If the contracts were signed directly with private persons, it would be easy to check them. But all the documents
are executed in the name of companies that do not look suspicious on the outside." Nevertheless, Gen Sukhodolskiy
is full of resolve. He says that his department, in teamwork with Internal Affairs Ministry operational services, has
already launched an all-out verification of all the "facilities". People with criminal backgrounds and shady
ties will be mercilessly thrown out of Internal Affairs Ministry protection. At present, five protagonists of this kind
(including Spivakovskiy) have been revealed and contracts with them terminated.
In addition, Sukhodolskiy is beginning a fundamental reconstruction of the entire system of extradepartmental
security. Earlier, there was not a single coordinating body in this area and practically any subunit could sign a
contract for security services (in Moscow alone, at least 80 GUVD officials could issue such orders). Now, however, the
Interregional Coordinating Centre (MKTs) has been set within the GUVO.
"The appearance of the MKTs," Sukhodolskiy says, "is a fundamentally new step. We have built a single
vertical chain. From now on, we have who to call to account. The era of absolute permissiveness is drawing to an
end."
The MKTs is vested with great powers. This body has a right not only to control and check all the subunits but it
will also perform security and escort functions. Its branches have been set up in every region with the entire power
delegated to them.
There are also other changes. Not only is the GUVO getting rid of criminal bosses but it is also beginning to educate
entrepreneurs. It would be silly to drop them altogether as they are clients paying good money. But then, the existing
ways should not be tolerated either.
GUVO officials say that the vehicles accompanying entrepreneurs regularly cut into the way of government members and
Internal Affairs Ministry leaders. Several accidents have occurred involving the minister himself.
An especially memorable incident at the Internal Affairs Ministry was when a jeep protecting the already former
Rostspirtprom [Rostov liquor plant] head cut into Gryzlov's motorcade. The incident was reported to the nearest
post, which attempted to stop the merchant. Yet, the latter just sped by. It took an operation code-named
"Interception" to catch him. Another problem was that such jeeps were usually driven not by certified police
staffers but by VOKhR [paramilitary security forces] agents. It stands to reason that respect for rank was not their
strongest trait.
"We have changed the relevant legislation," Mikhail Sukhodolskiy states. "Now, the Internal Affairs
Ministry can terminate security contracts unilaterally if the clients violate traffic rules. Last year, there were
already more than 30 such cases. In addition, we have resorted to the ultimate measure, starting to replace the blue
plates of escort cars with regular, white ones. The GIBDD [State Inspectorate for Road Traffic Safety] Main
Administration has reserved a special series for this purpose. As an incentive for appropriate behaviour, if a contract
is terminated unilaterally with the client, the car that he handed over to the Internal Affairs Ministry remains our
property for good. So, the more violations, the larger our vehicle fleet..."
We are going to watch closely the progress of this unprecedented reconstruction. Naturally, we will do it together
with our readers because unlike other police services, changes in the GUVO (or the lack thereof) will be visible to the
untrained eye.
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RUSSIA IN FACTS
