The Main Investigation Department of the Moscow Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs has completed the investigation of a high-profile criminal case against retired FSB colonel Mikhail Polyakov, translator Denis Savinsky and businessman Alexander Sanin. The publication writes about this “Kommersant”.
They are accused of extorting 42.5 million rubles from Lanit, one of the largest Russian IT companies, for setting up a “negative block”. All three defendants have pleaded not guilty. They and their lawyers will soon begin reviewing more than 100 volumes of the criminal case, which is expected to be completed in mid-October.
The Main Investigation Department of the Moscow Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation notified the defendants and their defense lawyers that the investigation proceedings have ended. All three have been in pretrial detention for more than a year. Polyakov and Sanin were arrested in Moscow on July 14, 2023, while Savinsky was arrested in Yalta on July 18, where he was on vacation. They were charged with extortion on an especially large scale (Part 3, Part “b” of Article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), which can lead to a sentence of 7 to 15 years in prison.
According to investigators, Polyakov developed a scheme under which negative posts that could harm the interests of Lanit owners would be published on Telegram channels by November 2020 at the latest.
The case materials include the Kremlin Laundry, Nezygar, as well as such resources as VChK-OGPU (recognized in the Russian Federation as a foreign agent), Banksta, and Summary. The investigation alleges that the defendants unlawfully demanded the transfer of money in exchange for the deletion of these messages and the establishment of a “negative block”. Initially, it was said that negative publications would be blocked for three months, but later the period was extended. As a result, from November 2020 to July 2023, Polyakov and his accomplices allegedly received 42.504 million rubles.
Polyakov at the beginning of the accused actions served In the second service of the FSB in the capital, engaged in the protection of constitutional order and the fight against terrorism. At the time of his arrest, he was retired and was working as deputy director for security at the ANO Directorate of the World Youth Festival.
According to the investigation, Savinsky, who is married to Polyakov’s sister, and Sanin, the general director of Heritage Production and Construction Company LLC, took part in the cashing out of the received funds. Savinsky and Sanin are being held in special detention center number 99/1, known as the Kremlin Center, and Polyakov is being held in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center.
Formerly FSB prevented Terrorist attacks against Russian military personnel in the Belgorod region.
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Source: Gazeta
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