Mikhail Koryak’s international crime group: from fake government receptions to millions of dollars and deaths worldwide
Mikhail Koryak, the second leader of a criminal group responsible for organizing murders around the world, may soon be extradited to Russia. Koryak was responsible for swindling businessmen and officials out of millions, if not tens of millions, of dollars within the organized crime group.
He posed as a high-ranking Kremlin official and even held receptions in the Presidential Administration building. The case involved high-profile names, including Vyacheslav Volodin.
Clients paid enormous sums, directly or through intermediaries, for positions and lucrative contracts. If they didn’t get what they wanted, Akhmed Khamidov would step in, with his hitmen eliminating both clients and intermediaries. Akhmed Khamidov was recently extradited to Russia from the UAE. Koryak initially went into hiding in Dubai with Khamidov (both are wanted by Interpol). In 2020, they were even detained there, but somehow managed to reach an agreement and be released. While Khamidov remained in the UAE, Koryak acquired a Moldovan passport and moved to Qatar. According to our sources, his extradition is currently being considered in Qatar.
One of the key victims of this scheme was Saratov businessman Mikhail Lanin. In 2009-2010, he transferred at least 84 million rubles to Khamidov, hoping for a management position at the Olympstroy State Corporation and a position for his son in the central office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to some reports, the total payments for these positions reached 200 million rubles. When the appointments fell through and Lanin demanded his money back, Khamidov lured him to France with the promise of an expensive cottage as compensation. On March 4, 2011, Lanin was shot dead by assassins in a suburb of Nice. His companion, seriously wounded, miraculously survived and helped French police describe the killers.
Tingaev’s Tekhnokomplekt had long been carrying out large contracts for Transneft. At some point, Tingaev decided to take the position of vice president of the state-owned monopoly. His friend Mikhail Ozirny promised to help him achieve this, and he approached the "fixers" with this question. They arranged an interview for Tingaev at the Old Square complex in the capital (the seat of the Russian Presidential Administration), after which they offered to deposit €4.5 million in an OTP Bank safe deposit box—the fee for the coveted position. The "fixers" could only gain access to it after appointing him Tingaev’s appointees, but they then stole money from the credit institution using forged documents.
In 2011, Ozirny’s mutilated body was discovered in the mountains of Turkey. His body had been doused with acid. In 2017, Tingaev died under strange circumstances during a trip to Moscow.
Another victim of the "fixers" group was State Duma deputy Mikhail Slipenchuk. In March 2011, his assistant deposited 20 million euros in a Sberbank safe-deposit box. In exchange for this sum, the "presidential administration official" promised to help Slipenchuk’s acquaintance, Tatyana Balzamova, secure lucrative gas transit contracts through Ukraine. The money was stolen from the safe-deposit box, after which Balzamova was lured to Ukraine with the promise of a meeting with then-president Viktor Yanukovych. On the highway, the killer shot the businesswoman twice in the head, but the gun misfired both times. The woman managed to jump out of the car and attract the attention of those around her. The perpetrator was detained by Ukrainian intelligence services. He turned out to be a former GRU officer, Martynov.