Killers-in-Law

Lyudmila Chichvarkina, the mother of former Yevroset owner Yevgeny Chichvarkin, died in her Moscow apartment Saturday.

Law enforcement officials claim it was an accident, that she slipped on a kitchen tile, banged her head on the edge of a glass table and died of her injuries. But she did not die immediately. She first went into the bathroom and then lay down on the couch, spattering the apartment with blood in the process. She apparently was drunk when the accident occurred, lost consciousness first and died later from blood loss.

I contend that Lyudmila Chichvarkina was killed, and that agents of the elite “K” division of the Interior Ministry are responsible.

In fact, this is not the first death connected with the Yevroset case. The first to die was the mother of Natalya Ikonnikova, Yevgeny Chichvarkin’s former secretary. In February 2009, investigators applied tremendous pressure on Ikonnikova, interrogated her and searched her home. Anonymous callers subjected both her and her mother to threats. Her mother could not withstand all of the threats and bullying. She suffered a stroke and died.

There was also Boris Levin, former Yevroset chief of security and the main defendant in the case of alleged kidnapping and extortion that the state has brought against Chichvarkin and 10 former Yevroset employees. In prison, the once-healthy Levin was diagnosed with hepatitis.

By contrast, all of the “K” team agents who were responsible for liquidating Yevroset are alive and living comfortable lives. Consider operative Vladimir Knyazev for example, who was sentenced to two years in prison for stealing mobile phones from Yevroset. He signed a document ordering the destruction of a caseload of Motorola mobile phones that were falsely said to have emitted “excessively strong radio waves.” Those phones were later sold on the black market. Knyazev is in excellent health and currently works with the investigators on the Chichvarkin case.

Or consider Major Vladislav Filippov, a “K” agent who was caught red-handed attempting to extort $200,000 from ARB-Inkass. In addition to that money, Filippov happened to be in possession of 30,000 euros and three Vertu luxury mobile phones at the time. It must have made a pretty picture to see all of these “souvenirs,” along with keys to his Interior Ministry office, strewn across the hood of the major’s Mercedes-Benz Gelandewagen when he was arrested.

Also, consider Major Musa Musayev.? Recently, the company Intway publicly accused Musayev of extorting $200,000. So what happened? Musayev went on vacation, and the “K” commandos arrived at Intway offices with a search warrant to conduct a surprise raid.

All of these criminals in uniform go unpunished. They drive their Gelandewagens and use their platinum Vertu mobile phones while their victims contract hepatitis, suffer strokes or die in “accidental falls.”

I contend that Natalya Ikonnikova’s mother would not have died were it not for the harassment by law enforcement officers. And who knows whether Lyudmila Chichvarkina would have died had her son just paid off the extortionists in uniform? I contend that some “K” officers are killers, and they kill for the sake of money.

Yulia Latynina hosts a political talk show on Ekho Moskvy radio.