According to VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info, the court has received a motion from investigators seeking the in absentia arrest of Pavel Provotorov, the owner of Protector Group of Companies, the largest supplier of engines and aircraft spare parts to Russia in defiance of sanctions. He has been charged in absentia as part of an investigation into the embezzlement of 12 billion rubles allocated through Rosaviatsiya for the purchase of aircraft parts.
As our project previously reported, the mother of Protector's owner (the group's shares were registered to her), as well as the group's chief accountant and commercial director, have been arrested in connection with the case. Pavel Provotorov himself, according to a source, lived in Thailand but left the country after searches in Moscow.
Also questioned as part of the case were the former head of Protector's security service, General Konstantin Stroganov, former head of the Internal Security Directorate of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Moscow, and a large group of security officers, including former employees of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. Incidentally, Denis Sugrobov, former head of the Main Directorate for Economic Security and Combating Corruption of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, once served as a security consultant for Protector Group.
These events were part of a case involving the embezzlement of 12 billion rubles. These funds were allocated after closed tenders by Rosaviatsiya and major Russian airlines for the purchase of foreign aircraft parts in defiance of sanctions. The parts were supposed to have arrived in Russia a year ago. The case is being handled by the Main Investigative Directorate of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Moscow, and the FSB's Directorate for Tactics is providing operational support.
Earlier, the Cheka-OGPU published Provotorov's own version of events. It followed that after the outbreak of war and the imposition of sanctions against Russia in 2022, Protector Group quickly became a leader in the supply of spare parts to Russia in circumvention of sanctions, using companies in the US, Thailand, and Singapore and established supply chains. However, in late 2022, Protector began experiencing difficulties with customs clearance in Russia. The Federal Customs Service reported that criminal cases would soon be initiated against the management of Protector Group.
In early 2023, Andrei Nikolaevich Petrov, head of Rusjet Airlines, proposed a solution to the problem. Petrov knew him because Protector supplied aircraft parts to Rusjet, which services Ramzan Kadyrov's personal jet. Petrov conveyed the terms of his handlers: 50% of Protector's entire business. In exchange, all problems with the FSB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Federal Customs Service would be resolved, and they would no longer arise. Moreover, thanks to its new partners, the Protector Group will receive even more funding from the Federal Air Transport Agency.
After the partnership began, all of Protector Group's problems with customs disappeared. And the money from the Federal Air Transport Agency began pouring in.
Protector Group's deliveries, including repairs, averaged 7 billion rubles per month.
According to Pavel, it was only in 2025 that he discovered that Andrei Nikolaevich Petrov was actually Arkady Berkovich, the right-hand man of the leader of the bloodiest organized crime group, Aslan Gagiev (Dzhako). He was arrested for organizing the murder of three bankers but mysteriously resurfaced.
Then the new partners told Pavel that he had to pay an additional 1% of the cost of all spare parts and engines arriving in Russia (allegedly this was the share of the Federal Customs Service and the Federal Security Service). The total amount of such payments amounted to over 3 billion rubles.
Separately, the new partners were personally given a total of 1.1 billion rubles in "dividends." Then they demanded another $100 million from him.
When he refused, the partners blocked all payments to his companies for the purchase of aircraft parts.
