Officers of Russian National Guard and Ministry of Internal Affairs extort $1 million from an Uzbek entrepreneur

According to Kommersant, the officers themselves claim that they suspected the applicant in extremism and their aim was not money, but information about his connections.

An investigation department at the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Istra district, Moscow region, initiated a criminal case against deputy chief of the operational intelligence center of the National Guard troops, Lieutenant Colonel Albert Kudryashov, and senior detective of the main department of the Interior Ministry for combatting extremism, Major Andrei Gaitov, under Article 163 of the Criminal Code (extortion).

The reason for this was the statement of an Uzbek entrepreneur Ashraf Aisenov, who indicated that for protection and not conducting criminal proceedings he was asked to pay 13 million rubles, not 18 million, as previously reported in the media.

According to the source of the Kommersant newspaper, investigators believe that on the morning of March 7, officers Kudryashov and Gaitov, arrived at the private house of officially unemployed Ashraf Aisenov, located in the village of Petrovskoye, and demanded $1 million from him.

Otherwise, the officers, according to the source, threatened to start criminal proceedings against Aisenov, and then extradite him to Uzbekistan, where he is wanted for embezzlement of $1.5 million.

Officers found that in 2015, Aisenov, previously named Jasur Jalilov, arrived in Russia with the passport of Ashraf Burkhanov. Then he took the name of his wife to become Aisenov and then divorced with her.

Aisenov agreed on a deal and started to bargain. After a month of negotiations, the demanded sum was reduced to 13 million rubles.

According to the official version, the officers were detained by district police when they came after the money. Later, the National Guard of Russia noted that Lt. Col. Kudryashov had long been under the attention of the department’s own security service and other law enforcement agencies. Given that suspects are officers of the National Guard and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the criminal case will be transferred from the police to the military investigative department of the Investigation Committee of Russia.

In the Istra city court, which examined the petition for the arrest of officers for two months, the suspects denied their guilt. According to their version, blackmail with deportation to Uzbekistan was used as a way to approach Aisenov – a suspect for working with extremist groups. Allegedly, in this way, they wanted to reveal a possible extremist operating in the Moscow region. The court, however, decided not to believe the accused and imprisoned them for two months.

At the same time, the fact that officers are veterans of military operations and have been presented with many awards was not taken into account. For example, Major Gaitov received an order of courage and a Suvorov medal.