VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info present a unique document to their readers. It details how Vladimir Danilenko—the "right-hand man" of Ilya Traber (known as "Antikvar" or "The Antiquarian")—paid the second installment of a $1 million fee to crime boss Abakar Darbishev for the elimination of Alexander Petrov, the "Master of Vyborg." Darbishev needed to legitimize the funds (hence why the transaction was structured as interest-free loan agreements with a repayment date of 2046) in order to officially invest the money in a business owned by Yuri Iliadi—a friend of Traber who had helped Antikvar obtain a Greek passport. These investments later sparked a major "showdown," a story we will cover in the coming days.
Traber decided that Petrov had to be eliminated at the height of the pandemic; his loyal aide Danilenko immediately drove a minibus to Moscow to meet Darbishev. Soon after, Abakar and members of his crew began making frequent trips to St. Petersburg. The operation was directly managed by Alisultan Nadirbekov. He had previously belonged to the gang of "thief-in-law" Vyacheslav Ivankov ("Yaponchik"), but joined Darbishev’s crew after Ivankov was shot by a sniper. Our source doubts that either Nadirbekov or Said Saladinov (both arrested in connection with the Petrov case) was the one who fired the sniper rifle at Petrov. However, Darbishev himself could well have been the shooter. Despite his status as a crime boss, he would occasionally take up arms personally when handling assignments for his closest associates—a circle that included Traber. He was particularly skilled with a sniper rifle. Alexander Petrov was killed in October 2020, yet the loan agreement was executed in November 2021. The explanation is simple: in November 2021, Darbishev urgently needed a large sum of legitimate funds. Traber and his associate Iliadi persuaded Abakar to invest half of his fee into a "highly promising project." A loan agreement was then used to launder a portion of that fee. Such an overt trail caused no concern whatsoever; Traber and Danilenko had always been convinced of their own untouchability. Darbishev exchanged the funds through Alfa-Bank and officially invested them in Iliadi’s enterprise.
Yesterday, the Investigative Committee changed the pre-trial restriction for Ilya Traber (known as "Antikvar" or "The Antiquarian"), allowing him to travel to St. Petersburg for medical treatment. This decision comes despite charges accusing him of orchestrating the contract killing of Alexander Petrov—the so-called "Master of Vyborg." He suffers from no terminal illnesses; rather, he has a retinue of prominent medical figures—most notably his close friend Vadim Manukovsky, director of the Dzhanelidze Research Institute—who compiled a voluminous dossier detailing his various ailments. Had they wished, they could have produced even more volumes, given that they all owe Traber a great deal. Yet, as recently as mid-July, this dossier failed to impress the court, and Traber’s detention was extended. The case presented the textbook combination of factors (a "100 out of 100" scenario) justifying continued detention: serious charges, Greek citizenship, overseas real estate, the potential to pressure witnesses, and so forth. Nevertheless, the Investigative Committee suddenly reversed course, altering "Antikvar’s" status and authorizing his trip to St. Petersburg for treatment. This move comes despite reports from VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info indicating that numerous interrogations and other investigative actions related to the "Traber case" were scheduled throughout the first half of September. Under what circumstances could such a turn of events occur? Only with a green light from the very top.
Investigators did not seize Traber’s assets; consequently, throughout July and August—as our project previously reported—stakes in major companies held by Traber himself or registered to his proxies (Begun and Poltorak) were hastily transferred to Ramis Deberdeev. These assets, including port infrastructure, are worth billions. Deberdeev is a longtime friend of Traber’s. However, the problem is that he is terminally ill. For a long time, Deberdeev has owned a motorcycle club in St. Petersburg that is a favorite haunt of VIPs hailing from the "Northern Capital." He knows everyone. It remains unclear whether these transactions were made to shield the assets from seizure or if "Antikvar" was simply divesting himself of them. We previously reported that Traber was arrested following a dispute over port infrastructure with Anatoly Yablonsky—a man backed by the powerful figure of Yevgeny Lovyrev, Deputy Director of the FSB.
As for the interrogations scheduled for September, they can now safely be called off. "The inner circles of Antikvar, Ibragim Suleymanov, and Darbishev are terrified. They are afraid to testify. They believe that if they open their mouths, Traber’s all-powerful hand will reach out for them too," our source said recently. Now that Antikvar has been released, any desire anyone might have had to speak will vanish completely. The Investigative Committee will be left with nothing but the testimony of the criminal Igor Lykov—words put into his mouth by operatives. For instance, the claim that Lykov was at the Ribeye restaurant in St. Petersburg with Vladimir Danilenko and Alisultan Nadirbegov while they discussed the murder of MP Alexander Petrov—allegedly on Antikvar’s orders. Anyone even slightly acquainted with these individuals laughs at such a story. Danilenko was an "Olympian" who clearly categorized everyone around him—servants, a driver, a guest, and so on. He had served time in the same penal colony as Lykov, who used to carry out... ...carried out his assignments, and upon his release—as a gesture of gratitude—he hired him into his crew as a driver-courier. A "run-errands" type of role. Naturally, Danilenko wouldn't have seated Lykov next to him at the Ribeye restaurant (an extremely prestigious, high-end establishment), let alone discussed such topics in his presence. The same applies to Nadirbegov.
It’s just that when the "green light" came from above regarding Traber, they took a relatively recent murder case—Petrov’s—and quickly tailored the testimony to implicate Traber. After all, it had been clear from the very first days after a sniper took Petrov out that "Antikvar" was the one who had ordered the hit. As a member of the crew, Lykov could certainly have known or surmised that Traber and Danilenko had sent the deputy to the next world. But no one would have discussed such matters in his presence at a high-end restaurant.
Then again, Traber hadn't been released just to be sent back to a pre-trial detention center.
