He left without promising to return.

VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info have learned of a high-ranking fugitive from Russia. Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, Yuri Isaev, immediately after leaving his post, fled the country and has never returned. The situation is made even more piquant by the fact that Isaev once served as an advisor to the first deputy director of the FSB, and everyone in his circle knew him as an SVR officer. But the icing on the cake is that Isaev was very close to Ilya Traber (Antikvar).

Isaev headed the Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA) for over ten years, and in January 2022, he was appointed deputy chairman of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. In this capacity, in June, he was named to the Government Commission for the Control of Foreign Investments. Then, in August, Isaev's resignation was unexpectedly announced. The project's source is unsure whether the dismissal occurred before or after Isaev's flight. However, according to him, he simply disappeared from Russia around that time. Preliminary reports indicate that the former deputy chairman of the Central Bank settled in Cyprus, where his family owns real estate.

 

Isaev's official biography begins in 1992, when, at the age of 20, he began working in the convertible currency department of Rossiysky Kredit Bank. Eight years later, he became chairman of the bank's board of directors. Two years later, he became Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation, German Gref. He then worked as an advisor to the First Deputy Head of the FSB, Sergei Smirnov. He then became First Deputy Chairman of the Dynamo association, which was headed by General of the Army Vladimir Pronichev, head of the FSB Border Service.

 

He briefly served as a State Duma deputy representing United Russia, and in 2012, he became head of the Deposit Insurance Agency. In this position, he was in constant close contact with the then head of the FSB's Directorate K, Viktor Voronin, and when Voronin was removed from his post, he invited him to become his deputy at the DIA.

 

According to a source, Isaev was extremely close to influential State Duma deputy Vladislav Reznikov (a friend of the influential Gennady Petrov and Ilya Traber), another deputy, Gleb Khor (known as a major fixer in the intelligence services), and... Ilya Traber (Antique).

 

The source says that in a very close circle, Isaev said that he had long been an SVR officer.

 

Isaev had every reason to flee. In 2019, Kirill Cherkalin, head of the banking department of the FSB's Directorate K, was arrested. Dmitry Frolov, former deputy head of the FSB's Directorate K (under Voronin), was subsequently taken into custody. Both were extremely close to Isaev. After this, DIA First Deputy Director General Valery Miroshnikov hastily left Russia. Meanwhile, "clouds were gathering" over Isaev all these years. After his departure, in October 2025, Andrei Melnikov was arrested. He had long been Isaev's deputy at the DIA, and after Isaev's transfer to the Central Bank, he became the agency's head.

 

According to the Cheka-OGPU and Rucriminal.info, Irina Shoch, a lawyer and fixer at the DIA, was also arrested. However, she was released after she began cooperating with the investigation. It was Shoch who, for many years, traveled around the world, harassing fugitive bankers on behalf of Isaev, Melnik, and associated FSB officers.