The illusion of murder? A warm place is never empty.

After the billionaire Igor Minakov, there was a huge funeral empire and a large development concern. He was not afraid of conflicts, did not like the "street" and always tried to look a little more civilized than his opponents. Even when he was faking his own murder.

Igor Minakov/Archive

“So that they don’t say that I look like a bandit ...”

The journalistic description of the biography of Igor Minakov traditionally begins with his service in the OBKhSS in the 1980s, where he came after a year of service as a police officer. Those who were nearby then remember very well: this officer did not like the “street” very much, and she paid him the same. It didn’t come to massacre except by chance, but colleagues from the criminal investigation department intelligibly recommended that he stay away from them. They didn't even know how wrong they were.

In 1991, Minakov left the authorities and took up security activities. Many "adults" remember "Protection", organized together with the branded commando Vyacheslav Snetkov; they remember how Zashchit became two - an association headed by Snetkov and a concern headed by Minakov.

In the early 1990s, when business issues were decided only by force, Igor Minakov showed everyone an example of civilized private security - against the backdrop of "Kazan", "Tambov", etc. his employees looked like guests from the future. He himself then drove white “Mercedes” of the executive class: “I specially bought white ones, not black ones, so that they would not say that I looked like a bandit,” he explained to reporters. In business circles, however, they laughed about this: they decided, they say, to save on color - hinting at, as they say, the stinginess inherent in the deceased. But he remained true to the principle - he did not like the "street".

By the way, the businessman's interest in the funeral began with the "Kazan" ones. It is hardly worth describing the negotiations between Minakov and his people in the early 1990s with the “Kazan” people because of the conflict at the Southern Cemetery. Suffice it to say that Igor came to the meeting, and the opponents - to the "shooter". But no one was hurt, and a serious player in the funeral services market was born in St. Petersburg.

And this is one of his business legacies - almost the entire funeral business in St. Petersburg today is controlled by companies associated with it. Rather, that part of the funeral business, which provides for paid services. And they are provided in almost all morgues and cemeteries of St. Petersburg, as well as in the crematorium and the Bureau of Forensic Medical Examination. In general, this market is estimated at about 2 billion rubles a year, it is very controversial, as Fontanka has written about many times. The closest partner here is considered to be billionaire Valery Larkin (he is currently experiencing, by the way, not better times- cannot recover from a severe accident, which he got into this summer in the Pskov region).

Probably, competitors will now try to take revenge - a large-scale struggle for a local funeral has long been waged with Minakov-Larkin by a business group associated with an entrepreneur. It is possible that soon we will learn something new about this area.

Vladimir Barsukov: “Minakov is sweating…”

The press began to write actively about Igor Minakov in 2004 in connection with the organization of his murder (https://www.site/2004/09/07/89849/) due to a conflict over several real estate objects owned by the St. Karl Marx. At one time he described this story.

“A guy turned to me and said that Igor Minakov was ordered to him. Minakov and I go to the same church. I called him and let him listen to the cassette that this killer recorded in a conversation with the customer. It was clear from the film that the customer was explaining: they say, every week he has lunch with Minakov, where he proposes to shoot him, moreover, impudently (this is literally). All according to the classics of the Hollywood plot. Minakov was sweating. I probably joked unsuccessfully: I offered two options. First: during lunch, the shooter does not hit Minakov. Igor Adolfovich waved his hands in protest. Then I suggested option number two - call 02. He did just that ... ”said Vladimir Barsukov.

The story ended in a "draw" - the head of CJSC Interregional Industrial and Commercial Concern Ilgar Akhundov was detained while transferring money to the executor of the staged murder of Minakov, but they failed to cope with the evidence base. In April 2008, a jury acquitted Akhundov, and he did well. By this time, Minakov managed to visit the head of the security service of the Lenenergo company (since 1997), where he managed to organize an effective system of debt collection “not going beyond the scope of criminal law”. In 1999, the system failed - there were claims from law enforcement agencies, which, however, did not lead to a guilty verdict of the court.

When the current head of the Petersburg Fuel Company, Yuri Antonov, was the vice-governor of St. Petersburg, Minakov headed the economic security service of the State Unitary Enterprise TEK SPb, where he worked from 2000 to 2002, until Antonov lost his post. Newspapers even slandered that they were so close that they often took a steam bath together. Already in the spring of 2003, it became known that Igor Minakov acquired about 80% of the shares of Nevo-Tabak CJSC.

“Today my goal is to feel better…”

A little later, the businessman commented on these events in an interview with our colleagues from Delovoy Petersburg:

“I have nothing to do with most of the companies in this asset scheme. I have been in business for over 20 years, and a lot has changed over the years: some assets have been sold, a number of companies have been liquidated or are going through liquidation. Until now, the Zashchita concern is mistakenly considered an operating structure. I have nothing to do with Mostostroy No. 6. Charity remains, but already as my private activity. V last years I only focus on healing. Due to illness, I retired from running the entire business. Today my goal is to improve my well-being. I'm trying to get more rest. My daughter is not involved in the business.”

Thus, rumors about a serious illness, which at the end of December 2018 led to his death, turned out to be legalized. By that time, Minakov had already sold a large part of his business: the United Capital bank went to Alexander Evnevich and Sergey Kasyanenko, 240 hectares hunting grounds in Karelia were sold to AFK Sistema. They began to write about Minakov as a patron of the arts - he financed the Our Tomorrow Foundation named after Oksana Dmitrieva, which helped orphans and disabled children, established awards for artists (at the Academy of Arts), young art historians (at the Repin Institute) and historians.

Most likely, the last major project with the participation of the Museum management company transformed into the Nordest holding developed without his personal participation. In the summer of 2018, companies associated with Nordest tried to amend the General Plan for nine land plots near Pargolovo - they want a total of 227 hectares. This story is just beginning. The development holding Nordest is by far the largest business legacy of the deceased.

If we look into the SPARK-Interfax information and analytical system, we see Igor Minakov as a 100% owner of three legal entities: Ambassador LLC (rent and property management), Nezhadovskoe LLC (hunting, trapping and shooting of wild animals) and Patriot Sports and Shooting Club LLC (under liquidation). The deceased also owns 60% of the shares of SRS Memorial LLC (funeral services) and 40% of the shares of MKSS LLC (cutting, processing and finishing stone for monuments).

Lev Godovannik, Fontanka.ru

Igor Minakov

The main shareholder of United Capital Bank, Igor Minakov, began his career as a simple policeman and rose to the rank of senior detective of the UBKhSS. He created the Zashchita concern, which guarded, in particular, the Southern Cemetery and the cemetery "In Memory of the Victims of January 9th." In 1997, he headed the security service of the largest energy monopoly in the region, Lenenergo JSC, where he was engaged in debt recovery. In 1999, he was arrested as part of a criminal case initiated on the fact of arbitrariness, however, the case did not reach the court. After some time, he went to work at the State Unitary Enterprise "TEK SPb", taking up the economic security of the enterprise.

In September 2004, law enforcement agencies staged the death of Igor Minakov. On one of the TV channels there was a story in which they showed a bloodied body. Soon, the alleged customer of the crime, Minakov's business partner, Ilgar Akhundov, was detained. A criminal case was initiated against Akhundov, including the preparation of the murder of Minakov. In April 2008, the jury delivered a verdict of not guilty to Akhundov. Igor Minakov founded the Our Tomorrow Foundation, which helps orphans, organizes creative contests for students of the Repin Institute of Painting and breeds huskies in his own hunting kennel.

Valery Larkin

In the mid-1990s, President of the Association of Funeral Industry Enterprises of St. Petersburg Valery Larkin took the chair of the head of a specialized enterprise (SPbGP), which united several dozen St. Petersburg cemeteries. In 1997, another person replaced him, and Larkin wrote a letter to the governor of St. Petersburg, Vladimir Yakovlev, and to the police department, after which he himself was detained and spent almost a year in Kresty on charges of embezzlement public money. In 2000, the case was dropped. Larkin is a longtime business partner of Igor Minakov and in this capacity is today one of the first persons of the St. Petersburg funeral.

Alexander Nechaev

Alexander Nechaev is called one of the leaders of the St. Petersburg business community. At the dawn of his career, he was present in his biography interesting fact. In 1993, Nechaev was being tried on charges of encroachment on the lives of police officers in connection with their official activities. Nechaev, who at that time worked as a caretaker of the funeral home in the city of Pushkin, became a defendant in the criminal case under curious circumstances. A conflict arose between two Petersburgers over the fact that one allegedly owed money to the other.

The victim Khvostov, from whom money was allegedly extorted, turned to the ORB. And Salnikov, who allegedly extorted money, went to his acquaintances, Nechaev and his comrade. At the direction of the ORB employees, a meeting was held at the apartment of the "extortionist", at which the "debtor" was supposed to transfer the money. But Salnikov, fearing that Khvostov would bring the bandits, asked Nechaev and his friend to sit in the next room just in case. Leaving the apartment, Khvostov gave a sign to the ORB officer, and they tried to detain Salnikov. The policemen were in civilian clothes, so they were mistaken for bandits. A shootout broke out, in which representatives of both sides were injured. Nechaev and his friend were put on trial and were acquitted.

This incident took place in front of a journalist from St. Petersburg Vedomosti, to whom the policemen wanted to demonstrate a beautiful special operation. Later, a feature film was made based on it.

Billionaire Igor Minakov, despite the ban of the Committee for the Protection of Culture, demolished the building of 1914.

Throughout the summer, St. Petersburg was rocked by rumors about the reasons for the high-profile resignation of Vice Governor Anatoly Aleksashin and the problems of Valery Malyshev. Our sources in Smolny claim that these scandals and others less advertised, but no less significant changes in the political alignment of the northern capital, was preceded by a quiet "drain" of compromising evidence on certain representatives of the regional elite, whose positions seemed unshakable. Who collected compromising information about the connections of high-ranking St. Petersburg officials, and even the governor's wife with criminals, and brought them to the mayor Vladimir Yakovlev, after which he made drastic personnel decisions. And most importantly, who benefits from it? We can name one person for sure - this is the "godfather" of the security business of St. Petersburg, Igor Adolfovich Minakov. He is also called the "gray eminence" in police uniform or "Neva Katani" ...

Biography facts

Igor Adolfovich Minakov is relatively young. He was born on June 22, 1960 in Leningrad. He graduated from the Leningrad Physical and Mechanical College, after the army - the St. Petersburg branch of the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (in absentia), and later received economic Education at the Shipbuilding Institute. From 1982 to 1991 he was a police officer, having gone from a police officer to a senior security officer. He worked in the Sestroretsk Criminal Investigation Department and in the Directorate of the BHSS - in the departments for combating foreign exchange transactions and organized crime.

In the late 80s, Minakov developed a very difficult relationship with his colleagues, because his high material level attracted attention, which a person who lived on one police salary could not have. Many were sure that Minakov was moonlighting as a freelance "legal adviser" for the "Malyshev" lads. In any case, he was often seen at the Pulkovskaya Hotel, where the main office of the leader of this organized criminal group, Alexander Malyshev, was located. According to another version, Minakov somehow ruined relations with the wife of a high-ranking OBKhSS officer, which was the reason for his dismissal. Minakov retired with the rank of senior police lieutenant.

After his dismissal from the internal affairs bodies, the young opera became one of the organizers and leaders of the Zashchita Association, which united 9 private security companies, numbering a total of about 2 thousand people - mostly former police officers. At the same time, Igor Minakov was the founder of several dozen purely commercial firms (half of them had the word "protection" in their names).

At that time, and to this day, success in the security business is impossible without the serious support of official power structures. In the UBEP (in the old way OBKhSS) of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of St. Petersburg, where Minakov worked, for a number of reasons, no one was going to provide him with such support. Therefore, the founder of "Protection" began to look for ways to the RUBOP, where he found mutual understanding.

Until the mid-1990s, no one in St. Petersburg separated Igor Minakov and Alexander Snetkov, who served 12 years in the special capture groups of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. However, in fact, at the end of 1994, Alexander Snetkov actually stepped down from the leadership of the enterprise, and in 1995, Zashchita practically split. Of the 24 divisions that were part of the association, 13 went to Snetkov, who was the president of the Zashchita association, and 11 remained with Minakov, who, according to official documents, was only a consultant. True, of those 13 that remained with Snetkov, he bought two from Minakov, since they owned them jointly. Minakov registered the Zashchita concern of the same name, and since then two Zashchita have been operating in St. Petersburg - an association and a concern, between which relations are quite jealous.

Minakov, despite the split of Zashchita, since 1995 has seen a sharp surge in personal business He invested in tourism financial business, rebuilt and refurbished two restaurants, was engaged in real estate and constantly developed and improved the actual security activities. Constantly investing his own money in his own business, Igor Adolfovich sometimes cut even his family even in some personal requests, but by and large he won. By 1998, the Zashchita concern could rightfully be called the "main monster" of the security business in St. Petersburg.

Developing the enterprise, Minakov proved to be a very subtle politician, having entered into extremely close relations with a number of law enforcement agencies, and especially with RUOP. He created the Foundation for Combating Organized Crime. By 1998, the annual budget of this fund was one billion two hundred million old rubles, while the entire annual budget of RUOP (or rather, that part of it that went to equipment) did not exceed one billion. Minakov's idea was simple - he wanted his Zashchita to be seen as an enterprise where RUOP employees could get a job after they left the service. This idea was successfully implemented in practice, which, of course, could not but give Zashchita more room for maneuver in its direct activities.

Until the mid 90s commercial structures, to which Igor Minakov had an official relationship (acted there as a leader or co-owner) were engaged only in the security business. The main firms controlled by Minakov in the security services market are Zashchita Concern and St. Petersburg Monitoring Company. In the second half of the 1990s, he withdrew from the direct management of these firms, and they still continue to bring him profit, but are no longer within the scope of his main commercial interests. Approximately in 1997, Igor Minakov began to engage in offsets. Of particular interest to him were offsets in the energy sector, because they brought the most profit.

Energetic "protector"

Minakov gained wide popularity, including in the political circles of St. Petersburg in connection with the activities of the two largest enterprises in the city of the fuel and energy complex: Lenenergo JSC (a structure of RAO UES of Russia) and SE TEK-SPb ( municipal enterprise). This happened in 1998. During this period of time, information appeared in the business circles of St. Petersburg about the active participation of Minakov in complex schemes of offsets, including the participation of budgetary funds intended to finance enterprises of the fuel and energy complex.

Minakov was most likely brought to Lenenergo by Viktor Nikolaevich Dudnev, a former deputy commercial director Lenenergo. The reason was the activities of the employees of the PPTK Lenenergo (a division that is engaged in the material support of Lenenergo). A group of the old composition of the leaders of Lenenergo got a lot of personal money, they began to fear for themselves, they needed physical protection. It was then that Minakov turned up with his "Protection". The protection of the former president of JSC "Lenenergo" Kazarov and his deputies Markaryan, Zaitsev, Chernyshov became the main occupation of Igor Adolfovich. But purely security functions were not enough for Minakov.

According to confidential information, he staged serious gang raids on the leadership of Lenenergo and "saved" them, entered into their confidence. In addition, there is information that Minakov helped Kazarov's son in a conflict with law enforcement agencies. After all this, he became deputy CEO JSC "Lenenergo". Officially, Minakov was engaged there in the fight against theft within the enterprise, in fact, crushed "for himself" all the possibilities of earning money on the most profitable financial sector energy of past years - mutual offsets.

Back in the summer of 1998, the then head of the UFSB of St. Petersburg, Viktor Cherkesov, invited two security officers in charge of Lenenergo to his place and told them that he was leaving for a collegium in Moscow, when he arrived, Minakov should not be in Lenenergo. But the FSB failed to immediately remove Minakov.

It is with this indication of Cherkesov that the arrest of Igor Minakov, which took place on May 28, 1999, in the framework of a criminal case initiated on the fact of arbitrariness, can be connected. He was elected a measure of restraint in the form of detention. V pre-trial detention center Minakov spent relatively little time, then he was released, and the criminal case initiated against him was "forgotten", since the head of Zashchita lost his influence on the financial flows of Lenenergo completely.

Short term

And the events in this sensational criminal case developed as follows. On May 25, 1999, Igor Minakov was detained as part of criminal case No. 990578, initiated on the fact of arbitrariness against a Petersburg businessman by the 1st department of the Main Investigative Directorate of the Main Internal Affairs Directorate. On May 28, Minakov was charged and a measure of restraint in the form of detention was applied. For some reason, the detention took place in the hospital where Minakov was being treated. It is possible that he was warned about possible troubles, and therefore feigned illness. Together with Minakov, his business partners Filipp Zyuzlikov and Valery Zhorov were involved in this case, for whom a written undertaking not to leave was chosen as a measure of restraint.

On June 10, 1999, the Dzerzhinsky Federal Court released Igor Minakov on bail of 250,000 rubles. But, despite the decision of the Dzerzhinsky Federal Court, he never left the pre-trial detention center. Immediately after the decision of the court, the investigator of the Office for the Investigation of the Organized criminal activity presented Minakov (who was not brought to the Dzerzhinsky court) a new charge, this time under Article 127 of the Criminal Code (illegal deprivation of liberty), and detention was again chosen as a measure of restraint.

However, on July 5, 1998, Igor Minakov was already at large - his preventive measure was changed to a written undertaking not to leave. There is reason to believe that this happened after he gave a large bribe to the police officials of St. Petersburg.

According to a certain part of law enforcement officials, the Zashchita concern has always been an organized criminal group (OCG), legalized under the guise of a security structure. And Minakov was the leader of this organized crime group, which was under the patronage of police generals.

It is significant that it was after the dismissal of Minakov's patrons from the RUBOP that he was arrested on charges of extortion and spent several weeks in the Kresty pre-trial detention center.

In a warm place

The change of leadership at the TEK-St. Petersburg enterprise (which is a monopolist in the city's heat supply) took place at the initiative of the Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg, Yuri Antonov, in the spring of 1998. He brought a new team of managers to SE "TEK-SPb" under the leadership of the General Director of the Research Institute of Precision Mechanics "Impulse" (enterprise defense complex) Konstantin Dubov. Before becoming vice-governor, Yuri Antonov himself was the general director of this research institute, and Dubov was his deputy. In addition, again, at the initiative of Yuri Antonov, the "roof" of the SE "TEK-SPb" has changed. Under the old leadership, the security of the enterprise was provided by the Zashchita Association, Antonov led the Zashchita Concern. Let's remind that there is a long-standing competition between the head of the Association Snetkov and the head of the Concern Minakov.

Where and under what circumstances Antonov and Minakov met, we do not know for sure. It is said that Antonov somehow fell under the influence of Minakov, but the details are again unknown. It is only known that they play football together on weekends and regularly take a steam bath.

Among the leaders of the State Enterprise "TEK-SPb" controlled by Minakov, the first deputy general director of the state enterprise "TEKzSPb" Yury Nikolayevich Volkov and the deputy general director for economics Romanchuk Alexey Ivanovich stood out. Together with Romanchuk, by the way, Minakov was engaged in offsets at Lenenergo.

The illusion of murder?

On October 29, 1998, at 4:40 pm, an explosion occurred at the checkpoint of the State Enterprise "TEK-SPb" on Gorokhovaya Street. An unidentified explosive device was planted between the entrance doors. As a result of the explosion, 2 people were injured: a 43-year-old driver of the State Enterprise "TEK-SPb", whose shin was injured by a piece of glass, and a 24-year-old employee of "TEK-SPb", who was smoking at the time of the explosion on the ground floor. The girl received an auditory concussion. The driver of the ambulance was taken to the hospital. The blast wave severely damaged the door frame and broke one leaf of the outer door. The sash was thrown 4 meters onto the roadway. In addition, the windows of the upper floor were shattered in the house opposite.

On December 18, 1998, there was an attempted assassination of Konstantin Dubov, General Director of SE TEK-SPb. At about 8 o'clock in the morning, a car "VAZ-2101" with transit numbers was blown up near house No. 13 on Olga Forsh Street. At the same time, three people were injured: Konstantin Dubov, general director of the state enterprise TEK-SPb, who left the entrance and was approaching the official Volga at that moment, his security guard and the driver of the Volga. All three were taken to the hospital of the Emergency Research Institute on Budapestskaya Street. Konstantin Dubov spent quite a long time in intensive care, in a state of shock, with serious burns to his face and hands.

The following is known about the possible involvement of Minakov in the attempted murder of Konstantin Dubov, General Director of the State Enterprise TEK-SPb.

Appearing in SE "TEK-SPb", Igor Minakov, on the one hand, became responsible for economic security enterprises, that is, gained access to control over all cash flows circulating in the financial space of this enterprise. On the other hand, he continued to own business, the role of a highly paid mercenary did not suit him. Therefore, in fact, by his actions, Igor Minakov moved those financial structures who profited from them before his appearance in SE "TEK-SPb".

Therefore, many informed people regard the assassination attempt on Konstantin Dubov as a warning to Minakov. Indeed, at the time of the assassination attempt, it was not Dubov who decided the main economic issues in TEK, but Minakov, but technically it was much more difficult to organize a forceful action against Minakov than against Dubov. Minakov drove an armored Mercedes with very serious security. Dubov's protection at that moment was purely symbolic. By the way, according to our information, Minakov took the attempt on Dubov as a warning addressed to him. He was very scared and even went to Israel with his family for a few days. But we have no official confirmation of the version that the assassination attempt on Dubov should be taken as a warning to Minakov.

Before the appearance of Igor Minakov in SE TEK-SPb together with the new management, the "left" financial flows in this enterprise were controlled through his people and through his commercial structures by one of the leaders of the "Tambovskaya" organized criminal group Mikhail Glushchenko. And long before that, Minakov had a conflict with Glushchenko.

On April 7, 1993, at about 10:00 am, an attempt was made to murder Mikhail Glushchenko in front of house number 23 along the Vyborg highway. The crime has not yet been solved. One of the versions of what happened is associated with the name former director planetarium of Vahan Ayvazyan, who was killed several years ago in the entrance of his house. As he told shortly before his death, before that, members of the Tambov group Belyaev (Bob) and Larichev made an attempt on his life. After that, Ayvazyan met with them, but could not agree and receive security guarantees. Worried about his life, he turned to the Protection Association for protection (then it was still headed by Snetkov and Minakov together). Several brigadiers of the Tambov group were beaten, after which its members at the planetarium staged a shootout with representatives of Zashchita. There are rumors of casualties. After this disassembly, Belyaev and Vladimir Kolesnik (Wheel) again went to talk with Ayvazyan, but again they did not come to a compromise, and Zashchita did not leave the planetarium. Then the Tambovites took away two cars from Ayvazyan, one of which, a Mercedes-300, was used by Belyaev. The offended Ayvazyan instructed Zashchita to carry out retaliatory actions against Belyaev and Glushchenko, but during his lifetime the request for retribution was not fulfilled. Therefore, the attempt on Glushchenko that followed his death is associated by some sources with Zashchita.

In fact, in the State Enterprise "TEK-SPb" Minakov again clashed with the interests of Mikhail Glushchenko, and this is the basis of the version that the attempt on Dubov could be a blow to Minakov. After all, Dubov, like Minakov, was with Glushchenko "on opposite sides of the barricades." From the point of view of the psychology of the underworld, this is easily explained: in the event of a conflict between two criminal structures, blows are very often delivered to objects that have become the subject of a dispute, for example, to the leaders of these objects.

The first explosion that occurred before the assassination attempt on Dubov at the checkpoint of the State Enterprise "TEK-SPb", many interested persons associate with completely different circumstances. At that time, serious pressure was exerted on Dubov in order to squeeze out the Zashchita concern controlled by Minakov from SE TEK-SPb (we are talking about the physical protection of top officials and objects of TEK). They say that the explosion at the entrance of the enterprise was staged by Minakov's people in order to convince Dubov of the need to spend on physical protection in the state enterprise "TEK-SPb". However, this information also has no serious confirmation.

Our days

After the arrival of Minakov in the State Enterprise "TEK-SPb", the media seemed to have forgotten about him. And only in the fall of last year, he again found himself in the center of a quiet scandal - St. Petersburg was stirred up by a newspaper report that Minakov was allegedly preparing an attempt on the son of the governor Vladimir Yakovlev. The interests of Igor Minakov and Igor Yakovlev really crossed in the State Enterprise "TEK-SPb", after the governor's son managed to privatize a rather profitable part of this enterprise. The press, however, made a noise about this and calmed down.

But in the early spring, our sources in Smolny claimed that the head of the governor's office, Yuri Antonov, provided Governor Yakovlev with some compromising material, collected by Minakov's people, on his wife Irina Ivanovna. The material, they say, turned out to be so lethal and made such an indelible impression on the mayor that Irina Ivanovna was suddenly excluded from the political process of the city, including being removed from making personnel decisions. But these were only flowers.

Later, Antonov presented to Yakovlev the so-called "Minakov's folder" with compromising information on the vice-governor Anatoly Aleksashin. What kind of compromising evidence it was, five people in the city know. But his seriousness is evidenced by the fact that Yakovlev abruptly dismissed Aleksashin from the affairs of the municipal economy, declaring that under no circumstances would he work with him anymore. The disgraced vice-governor retreated to Moscow to seek protection from Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, but in vain.

Further more. While guarding the building of the embassy, ​​a police officer was exposed, who was passing the lists of Viktor Cherkesov's visitors to Minakov's people from the Zashchita concern. That is, we can say that the plenipotentiary was being secretly monitored. And now it cannot be ruled out that there are no "moles" of Minakov in Cherkesov's entourage.

All these and other destructive actions of Igor Adolfovich and his subordinates from the Zashchita concern eventually led to the fact that the bosom friend of the vice-governor Yuri Antonov became the second most influential person in Smolny after the governor Vladimir Yakovlev. Now Yakovlev trusts this vice-governor more than ever. And, perhaps, he will soon name him his successor No. 1.
But won't the mayor of St. Petersburg himself become the next victim of Minakov, so that power in the city on the sly will completely pass to the head of the governor's office, Yuri Antonov, who in the end will not owe anything to Yakovlev and will finally turn into an absolutely independent political figure at the federal level?

P.S. Last week, the magazine "Profile" conducted a curious monitoring among the governors regarding their dependence on criminal gangs. The Governor of St. Petersburg Vladimir Yakovlev answered the question in this way: "There is no dependence. And all the approval of funds mass media about the connection of the administration of St. Petersburg with criminal gangs - are groundless. "Congratulations for not lying!

From 1982 to 1991 he worked in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, starting as a guard and ending as a senior detective of the UBKhSS-UBEP (departments for combating currency crimes and organized crime). Resigned from the internal affairs bodies (Reference "R": dismissed due to inconsistency, a colleague of the former policeman Yuri Lvovich Osipov - a member of the "Kazan" group, then the head of the Kurortny district of St. Petersburg) created, together with the special forces officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Alexander Snetkov, the security structure "Protection", which eventually grew into the association of security companies of the same name, which, in addition to private security companies, included dozens of commercial firms. In the mid-1990s, the partners parted, and Minakov created his own concern "Protection", which soon became one of the largest security structures in St. Petersburg. Among the objects that at that time were guarded by the Zashchita concern were the Southern Cemetery and the Cemetery in Memory of the Victims of January 9th.

The concern staff consisted of more than 2000 security guards - mainly former employees militia. At the same time, Minakov created the Fund for Combating Organized Crime, which provided significant material assistance to the St. Petersburg RUOP.

In 1997, Igor Minakov headed the security service of JSC Lenenergo. According to media reports, for this he had to stage "gang raids" on representatives of the old team in the leadership of Lenenergo. Being engaged in offsets, Minakov, according to media reports, organized a clear system for knocking out Lenenergo's debts. In May 1999, Igor Minakov was arrested as part of a criminal case initiated on the fact of arbitrariness. He was elected a measure of restraint in the form of detention. However, after a few months, the entrepreneur's defense managed to change the preventive measure to bail. Minakov was released, but never returned to Lenenergo. Subsequently, he was acquitted by the court.

In 1998, after a change of leadership in the state enterprise "TEK St. Petersburg" (a monopolist in the field of heat supply to the city), the Zashchita concern headed by Minakov began to perform the functions of the security service of this state unitary enterprise. The arrival of new leaders in SE "TEK SPb" was marked by a series of explosions, assassination attempts and shootings, the true causes of which are very vague. Someone was inclined to believe that in this way they tried to influence primarily Minakov, and someone suspected the head of Zashchita of using methods tested back in the leadership of Lenenergo. Be that as it may, judging by media reports and information from law enforcement agencies, Minakov managed to exert a strong influence on SUE TEK for a long time.

Minakov is considered the initiator of a scandalous statement to the police by the head of one of the contracting organizations of the fuel and energy complex, Ilgar Akhundov, who in 2000 accused a number of firms associated with the son of the then governor Vladimir Yakovlev of demanding kickbacks. Subsequently, the paths of Minakov and Akhundov diverged. In the summer of 2004, both of them were witnesses in a criminal case of fraud with the property of the Karl Marx Machine-Building Association OJSC. During the investigation of this case, officers of the Organized Crime Control Department arrested Akhundov on charges of another crime - namely, the attempted murder of Igor Minakov. As follows from the materials of the case, Minakov managed to outbid the killers hired by Akhundov to eliminate a competitor, and they staged the murder of Minakov, shooting the businessman from Niva machine guns.

Incision "P", interview of Vladimir Barsukov (Kumarin) to the newspaper "Privy Councilor", 18.06.2007: “A guy approached me and said that Igor Minakov was ordered to him. Minakov and I go to the same church. I called him and let him listen to the tape that this killer recorded in a conversation with the customer. From the tape it was clearly clear that the customer was explaining: they say , every week he has lunch with Minakov, where he proposes to shoot him, moreover, impudently (this is literally). Everything is according to the classic Hollywood plot. Minakov was sweating. I must have joked unsuccessfully: I suggested two options. First: during lunch, the shooter does not hit Minakov. Igor Adolfovich waved his hands in protest. Then I suggested option number two - call 02. He did just that. True, they went according to the sniper scheme. And in order not to spoil Minakov's Mercedes, Igor was transferred to Niva "Evil tongues say that Minakov is a fisted man and considered an attempt on himself on a scooter so as not to spoil the Niva. He almost failed. At Lenfilm they made up as a victim. Then the "sniper" came to the customer, who wanted to clean up a factory on Karl Marx Avenue, which Akhundov named after himself. Is there no association with raiding? Then you know - the story was noisy - Akhundov was arrested. Why did the killer come to me? Do not know. So it happened. You can also say that he was from Tambov ... "

Akhundov's defenders assured that the whole story of the assassination attempt from beginning to end was a provocation by Minakov's security service.

Currently, Minakov is the owner of an extensive business. In addition to the Zashchita concern, he is the chairman of the board of directors of United Capital, management company"Landlord" (management of real estate objects. The area of ​​managed objects exceeds 30 thousand sq.m., the company manages five business centers located in various districts of St. Petersburg), the Museum group of companies (management industrial enterprises, development), CJSC "Nevo-tabak", printing complex "Deviz", as well as restaurants "Makrel" and "Prichal".

In 2005, under the leadership of Igor Minakov, the charitable foundation"Our tomorrow" to assist special children's institutions in the Primorsky and Kurortny districts of St. Petersburg. Also, Igor Minakov donated funds for the construction of the Church of St. Panteleimon in the village of Ganino, assists in the restoration of the church in Lisy Nos. For his help in the construction of the church in Ganino, he was awarded the Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh.

Objects:

Factory named after Karl Marx
. OJSC "Red Triangle"
. LLC "Tallinn baths"