The VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info continue to publish the story of a person who knew Ilya Traber (Antique Dealer) well and communicated with him almost until his arrest. A small spoiler: Traber held receptions for visitors in the spirit of Don Corleone and could arrange meetings with almost any official with St. Petersburg roots.
Vladimir Danilenko, who was also arrested in connection with the murder of Deputy Alexander Petrov, played a significant role under Traber. He is a man with an interesting life story. Born in Kazakhstan, his mother held a high position in the local executive committee, so Vladimir initially grew up in a very comfortable environment. However, his mother died early, and his aunt took him in to be raised. And so, as they say, he fell in with the "bad crowd." He received his first prison sentence as a teenager, became imbued with the romanticism of the criminal underworld, and from then on, one prison term followed another. Danilenko met Traber around 1995 and immediately began carrying out his "special assignments." Soon, he received another hefty prison sentence. "I sent Vova to talk to him, and he got 10 years," Antikvar later recalled. At the time, Traber was involved in a "war" for the fruit and vegetable market in St. Petersburg. He faced fierce resistance. He was particularly opposed by a powerful businessman who controlled almost all of the watermelon supplies to the "northern capital." Traber sent Danilenko to "talk" to him. But the conversation didn't go well. The watermelon magnate threatened Danilenko's family, resulting in Danilenko's prolonged torture, which ultimately led to his death in the hospital. It was during this prison sentence that Danilenko met Igor Lykov, who, while in captivity in Ukraine, later told a journalist about Traber and Danilenko's involvement in Petrov's murder.
After his release, Danilenko quickly became Traber's most important man. Through him, Traber relayed all his orders, both in the business and criminal realms. He was also Traber's primary point of contact with others, with the exception of the Antiquarian's personal meetings, which deserve a separate discussion.
When someone wanted to personally speak with Traber, to ask him for something, to propose something, or simply to discuss something, they had to contact Danilenko. He also summoned people for interviews with Traber. Out-of-town visitors were housed at the Grand Hotel Emerald, and then the Antiquarian's "game" began, intended to further demonstrate his status. He never saw anyone immediately. They had to stay at the hotel and wait for Danilenko to "summon" them to Traber. The wait could be a day, or even four. Or they might hear a week later that Traber couldn't meet that time and needed to return in... six months.
The visitors weren't just "authorities" and businessmen, but also ordinary people. Traber, in the spirit of Don Corleone, welcomed people with their problems. Someone had been wronged, someone needed help getting their child into university, someone needed to get an operation at the I.I. Dzhanelidze Research Institute, someone's son was being pressured in prison, and so on.
Business representatives were a separate issue. They went to Traber because he could arrange the necessary meetings with oligarchs and officials. And such meetings, in fact, that they would listen and know that the person was from Antikvar. If the meetings were successful, Traber was entitled to a percentage of the subsequent profits. For example, our source witnessed Antikvar arranging meetings for businessmen with Arkady Rotenberg and Leningrad Region Governor Alexander Drozdenko. According to the source, Traber could, in principle, introduce anyone to any prominent person whose career began in St. Petersburg. He knew everyone.
If one of the visitors proposed a startup, Traber might well be personally interested. This was the case, for example, with the emergence of Bureau of Digital Technologies LLC. One day, a young man named Alexander Moiseyev was brought to Traber. He proposed his own project. Smartphones would be purchased in China and sold for free in Russia (primarily to migrant workers) with a connection included. In exchange, owners would have to watch numerous ads on their phones every day—a feature already built into the handsets. As a result, the "authority" Abakar Darbishev (who brought Moiseyev in) invested 400 million rubles in the project, while Traber and his longtime business partner Ramis Deberdeev (pictured here having lunch with Danilenko) each contributed 250 million rubles. Darbishev formalized his stake with Moiseyev through a special agreement, stating that of the 50% registered to the latter, 37.5% actually belonged to Abakar. Immediately after Traber's arrest, Deberdeev transferred the Antiquarian's share to himself, thus trying to protect the asset from possible arrest.
