The late 1990s in St. Petersburg were marked by a high-profile murder that shocked the city. In August 1997, a special service operation revealed shocking details about the killing of Mikhail Manevich, then deputy governor and a prominent public official. Investigators determined that two members of a local criminal organization played a role in the crime. One suspect monitored Manevich’s residence and relayed his movements to an accomplice, leading to a second attack that targeted the deputy governor’s vehicle. The FSB described the episode as a calculated act tied to a larger network of crime and power in the city.
According to the official account, the murder was ordered by higher level figures. A man born in 1956 delivered the murder weapon, a Kalashnikov assault rifle, to the perpetrators. Vladimir Barsukov, also known as Kumarin, who led the so-called Tambovskaya criminal network in St. Petersburg, was identified as a key figure who orchestrated the operation. Current investigative work continues to secure the circumstances surrounding the case.
At the time Manevich rose through the ranks of local governance, serving as a member of the city administration since 1993. In 1996 he became deputy governor as Vladimir Yakovlev led city policy through the late 1990s, years marked by close collaboration with the mayoralty under Anatoly Sobchak. The sequence of events on the day of the assassination shows Manevich traveling with his spouse in an official car along Nevsky Prospekt after departing a residence on Rubinshtein Street. The attack occurred from an attic across the street, inflicting fatal injuries that led to his death before reaching hospital. The killer escaped the scene, leaving behind the rifle with an optical sight as evidence.
The case later connected Manevich’s murder to a broader web of organized crime. Notably, a former official who had worked closely with the city’s political leadership during the 1990s spoke of pressure to leave the country after the crime, underscoring the tense climate in St. Petersburg at the time. Public figures, including those who later rose to national prominence, faced intense scrutiny and fear in the wake of the murder.
In November 2009, new admissions emerged implicating Gardotsky in the planning of Manevich’s killing. Investigators pursued Sergei Zaripov and his circle, who were tied to Yuri Shutov, a figure already sentenced in related cases. Shutov, who had held roles tied to Anatoly Sobchak and the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly, died in a penal facility in 2014. The testimony suggested a multi-month preparation for the murder, with orders issued from a vantage point on Rubinstein Street and The attic near Nevsky Prospekt being a staging point for the assault. Subsequent reporting by RBC cited continued arrangements that positioned Manevich as the target of a well-coordinated effort by multiple accomplices.
During a public milestone in 2006, Anatoly Chubais, who had collaborated with Manevich, commented on the severity of the case and the lifetime sentences handed to key conspirators. The Supreme Court of Russia upheld those life terms for Yuri Shutov and several members of his gang, reinforcing the view that the crime was a calculated and extensive conspiracy that extended beyond a single event. The full resolution of the murder did not come immediately, reflecting the era’s complicated legal landscape and the persistence of gang networks in post-Soviet Russia.
Tambovskaya OPG Kumarin
Investigative findings consistently point to Vladimir Barsukov, known as Kumarin, as the person who ordered the Manevich murder. Kumarin had already become a central figure in a powerful criminal syndicate and faced charges related to other high-profile offenses in St. Petersburg, including extortion and interference in large-scale business interests. The investigation linked him to a separate, highly sensitive case involving the killing of Galina Starovoitova, a State Duma deputy, who was shot outside her residence on the Griboyedov Embankment in 1998. The case also touched on aggressive takeovers and threats against a significant asset at a St. Petersburg oil terminal, with Kumarin connected to those acts as well.
As authorities built the case, the Manevich murder stood as a grim reminder of the city’s turbulent era and the reach of organized crime into political life. The ongoing work by law enforcement, court proceedings, and investigative journalism kept the case in public view for many years, reflecting broader concerns about governance, security, and the rule of law in post-Soviet Russia.
Attribution: Fontanka.Ru and RBC provided background reporting on the developments and the court decisions surrounding the key figures involved in these cases.