Something strange has been going on in Russian sports lately. After a series of “conquering” venues for world championships - the Sochi Olympics 1014, the 2016 Hockey World Championship and the 2018 Football World Championship - we are failing world tournaments one after another.
Even to a non-specialist it is clear that the issue here is not in individual failures of athletes or even in the absence of the notorious “team spirit”, but in a system that is clearly failing. And this failure must be eliminated. It's not too late yet. Until Sochi hit.
The Russian authorities allegedly got it wrong with the meeting of the Presidium of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for the Development of Physical Culture and Sports. It took place in Krasnodar on May 16, and revealed very serious problems associated, first of all, with a weakened personnel base. The Chairman of the Council, Vladimir Putin, did not hide this obvious gap, which led to what we have today. According to the head of the Russian government, it is vital to attract renowned Soviet specialists to the work. We need to create comfortable conditions for them to work. And use their enormous experience in the system of training new generations of sports instructors, teachers, and coaches.
Putin assigned the main role in creating these very conditions, in particular financial stability, to the Ministry of Sports, Tourism and Youth Policy. Its head, Vitaly Mutko, said essentially the right things to Putin, but it all looked very much like a report on successes and tasks. Speaking about the importance of caring for experienced specialists, for some reason Mutko did not mention specific examples of such care.
The minister did not say a word about the situation around the Russian State University of Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism - the oldest glorious “forge of athletes”, which has nurtured more than one outstanding champion. A situation that many knowledgeable people call nothing but outrageous.
Honored professors and associate professors of the university, its students, who had already written several official letters to the highest sports department of the country and personally to President Medvedev, did not receive at least any intelligible comment.
We are talking about numerous complaints against the rector of the Russian State University of Physical Culture and Technology, Alexander Bleer, who, according to those who signed the messages, is systematically destroying the university’s educational system, which has been well-established over the years, in favor of commercial projects that are beneficial for a narrow circle of people “especially close” to him.
“In practice, everything happens as if on purpose, so that the university does not undergo accreditation and does not receive a license, and frees up expensive territory for commercial projects,” we will quote only some excerpts from the teachers’ letter addressed to President Medvedev. - Instead of an increase in the salaries of researchers, professors and teachers, there is an increase in support administrative staff, which, moreover, does not help, but rather complicates the work of departments, institutes, educational institutions and libraries. Teachers are psychologically depressed by the situation when the salaries of employees of auxiliary structures significantly exceed the amounts received by teachers for their main activities at the university. Today, the salary of senior teachers is significantly lower than the salary of ordinary employees of departments and departments and is close to the salary of cleaners.”
The staff of service personnel, which mainly includes employees dealing with issues from other companies of the rector, has swelled to 1000 people with only four hundred faculty members. The Academic Council includes 14 people from service departments who have nothing to do with the educational or scientific activities of the university, which is unacceptable even by the name of the governing body. Over the 5 years during which Alexander Bleer has been at the helm of the university, not a single sports facility has been built or renovated where classes are held (tennis courts are rented out as warehouses, small football fields are rented out).
The entire teaching staff is intimidated by either salary cuts or dismissal from their positions due to their disbandment, as happened with many departments at the university. As a result, teachers can only write nameless letters addressed to the President and the Minister of Sports. It is unlikely that anyone would argue that if these messages are at least a quarter of the truth, the minister is simply obliged to respond. At least somehow. But for some reason Mutko prefers to maintain partisan silence.
At the same time, more egregious facts of Mr. Bleer’s rector’s activities remained outside the scope of these open letters. And these facts, like nothing else, explain the deep essence of the problems that have arisen in the once famous forge of sports personnel.
For example, when RGUFKSiT won the competition of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation for innovative educational programs, for which over 300 million rubles were allocated. As a result, unlicensed equipment was purchased with allocated budget money, at prices several times higher than the market price, and on which official research cannot be conducted. The walls were painted and the windows were replaced, after which the rector decided that the university was now innovative. More than 120 million rubles worth of equipment was purchased for the medical unit, which was closed immediately after that, and most of the equipment was never seen at the institute.
Immediately after winning the competition, Bleer appointed one of the commission members, Marina Maksovna Knyazeva, as vice-rector, who made the decision on the winner of the competition for innovative educational programs. As a result, this lady worked at the institute for a little over a year, in fact, supervising the “development” and division of budget funds, after which Bleer fired her as unnecessary.
In the dormitory building, both residential and non-residential premises are rented for cash, bypassing the university, and this despite the fact that there are not enough places for students, and the money goes into the pockets of managers. Tenders for the purchase of goods and work are announced with VAT included, but contracts are concluded without VAT: as a result, the million dollar difference goes into the same pocket - the head of the university. All the main sports facilities of the university, including the athletics arena, swimming pool, and ice palace, require major repairs, and this despite the fact that budget funds have already been allocated for their repairs more than once.
If we talk in more detail about sports facilities, then in recent years in RGUFKSiT Only 4 small sports facilities (inflatable type) were built, which, due to their size and sanitary and hygienic requirements, are not intended for conducting educational training sessions, but are very well rented out, the money from which bypasses the university budget. But on the territory of the university, a restaurant was very successfully organized, which is the permanent residence of Rector Bleer, and in which “gladiator fights” are regularly held in the ring to entertain the “relatives” of the rector.
The fact that the rector Alexander Bleer in the past is a reputable businessman with great connections with the “Izmailovo” and “Golyanovsk” groups is known to every university student. Witnesses say that even at the recent celebration of the 93rd anniversary of the founding of the university, the rector came on stage with a weapon. Armored cars, weapons and a bunch of guards are the constant accompaniment of Mr. Bleer as he moves around the city.
In June 2009, the capital Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation opened a criminal case against the rector Alexander Bleer under Part 3 of Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (abuse of official powers), suspected of illegally leasing land to organizations operating at the Cherkizovsky market. The details of the case were then reported by the head of the Moscow Office of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Anatoly Bagmet:
“The suspect, using his powers in the implementation of the granted rights of permanent use of a federally owned land plot with an area of 664.781 thousand square meters, located at the address: Sirenevy Boulevard, possession 4, entered into lease agreements with commercial organizations, however, rental payments were transferred to the settlement accounts of RGUFK , bypassing the federal budget. The damage to the state amounted to 77.6 million rubles,” noted the head of the Department.
However, Blair managed to hush up this problem. Within a few days, the investigation switched to Oleg Matytsin, the former rector of the Russian State University of Physical Culture and Technology. The results of the case have not yet been made public.
The main assistants to the rector are generally a separate topic for the work of the prosecutor's office: vice-rector for sports and educational work Stradze A.E. was appointed to the position using false documents (PhD diploma), and Vice-Rector for Innovative Development Tarasenko M.V. in the dashing 90s he was part of the same criminal group with Blair. Now yesterday’s bandit is responsible for the finances and innovative development of a higher education institution.
The university recently won a competition to analyze the Cherkizovsky market. How can a higher education institution carry out such activities without the appropriate licenses and work experience (Vice-Rector for Innovation Tarasenko is responsible for this)? Not only that: after this work has been completed, the university requires the allocation of additional multimillion-dollar budget funds for the construction of a fence and other work that was completed before the start of the market analysis. At the same time, when the market is dismantled, containers and scrap metal are sold, but it is unknown where the funds received go.
In 1990, he graduated from the coaching department of the State Central Order of Lenin Institute of Physical Culture with a degree in “Teacher-coach in classical wrestling.”
In 1998, he defended his Ph.D. thesis and was awarded the academic degree of Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences by decision of the dissertation council of the Russian State Academy of Physical Culture.
In 1999 he graduated from the Faculty of Law of the Institute of International Law and Economics. Griboyedov, majoring in Jurisprudence, qualified as a Lawyer.
In 2004, he graduated from the Faculty of Management Psychology of the Russian Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation.
Currently he is the rector of the Russian State University of Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism (RGUFKSiT) and the head of the department of theory and methodology of applied sports and extreme activities of RGUFKSiT.
He was awarded medals of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II and I degrees, and departmental awards.
A.N. Bleer has published about 70 scientific papers, published 18 teaching aids and programs, under his leadership 3 candidate's dissertations were completed and successfully defended, and he is currently the supervisor of 6 applicants and graduate students.
In the period from 2002 to 2004, Bleer A.N. repeatedly traveled as part of a humanitarian mission of the Main Personnel Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia to the Temporary Operational Group of bodies and units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs conducting a counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus region, made a significant contribution to maintaining the morale of soldiers and commanders, as well as providing them with professional and social help.
For the successes achieved, great personal contribution and active participation in the organization and conduct of competitions in service-applied sports and charitable activities in providing humanitarian assistance to law enforcement officers located in the North Caucasus region, for assistance to internal affairs bodies and internal troops in resolving social issues -legal protection of veterans, disabled people and families of victims, Bleer A.N. awarded the badges of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation: “For nobility of thoughts and deeds”, “For fidelity to duty”, “Participant in combat operations”, “For assistance to the Ministry of Internal Affairs”, “For distinction in service” (the last four were awarded at the Group headquarters in the village of Khankala), as well as: “Gratitude from the Minister of Internal Affairs of Russia”, “Gratitude from the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Russia”, “Gratitude from the Head of the Moscow City Internal Affairs Directorate”.
Alexander Nikolaevich Bleer is the founder of the department of theory and methodology of applied sports and extreme activities at the Russian State University of Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism. Under his leadership, the department opened a new direction in the field of physical culture and sports related to human activity in extreme conditions on land, water and in the air. Three of the five specializations of the department, namely: mountain sports, underwater sports and aviation sports, received the status of higher education for the first time in the Russian Federation. Thanks to the work of Bleer A.N. The department has developed and successfully applied new methods and technologies to improve the effectiveness of the educational process, some of which are unique and have no analogues in the world.
As part of the scientific work, Bleer A.N. actively develops cooperation between the Department of Applied Sports and Extreme Activities of the Russian State University of Physical Culture and Sports and Special Purpose Units (TsSN, FSB of the Russian Federation, Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation). 20 training programs for special employees have been developed and tested. services and law enforcement agencies in various specializations of the department and some of them are introduced into the practice of training employees of special units for special purposes (TsSN, FSB of the Russian Federation, Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation).
Being a graduate of the university, and continuing to work within its walls for many years, A.N. Bleer makes a significant contribution to the preservation and improvement of the material, educational and scientific base. In the position of rector of the Russian State University of Physical Culture and Technology, Bleer A.N. conducted and conducts events that help strengthen the position of the university in the university space. A huge role in this was played by the university’s victory in the competition of universities introducing innovative educational programs within the framework of the Priority National Project “Education”. As a result of the program, laboratory equipment was purchased and deployed for the stands of the research complex, new educational programs were developed, the material and technical base was modernized, multimedia classes, computer classes, problem-solving mini-laboratories and much more were created. All this ensures consistent, comprehensive and high-quality education for graduates of RGUFKSiT. In addition, the Russian State University of Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism was the first among sports universities to switch from a faculty to an institute system. Now the structure of RGUFKSiT includes the Institute of Physical Culture, Sports and Fitness, the Humanitarian Institute, the Institute of Tourism, Recreation and Rehabilitation, and the Institute of Correspondence and Distance Learning. Also, new specialties were opened at the university: “Organization of work with youth”, “Psychology”, “Economics”.
Alexander Nikolaevich Bleer is distinguished by the highest efficiency, self-discipline and dedication, which allows him to organically and effectively combine extensive coaching, teaching, and scientific activities.
The trial of seven members of the Golyanov group is underway in the military court of the Moscow garrison. They are accused of banditry, murder, kidnapping and extortion. The case, for which orders and titles have already been received, is falling apart: the victims do not appear, and the witnesses claim that they testified under the dictation of MUR operatives. The same was stated by one of the leaders of the Russian State Academy of Physical Education, on whom the prosecution had high hopes. MAXIM Kommersant-STEPENIN reports.
Money bag
As Kommersant has already told, six of the seven accused are in the dock. One of them is former FSB colonel Igor Kushnikov, because of whom the case is being considered by a military court. The seventh is in a psychiatric hospital because he became insane during the investigation. This is 35-year-old Maxim Shenkov, also known as Max Golyanovsky, a former paratrooper, European silver medalist in karate, international master of sports in judo, member of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. The investigation considers him the leader of the Golyanov group, although he considered himself a businessman. True, even lawyers cannot explain what kind of business this was. They only say that these were “some connections with Abkhazia.”
However, Maxim Shenkov had closer interests. In particular, in the capital's universal sports and entertainment complex (USZK) "Izmailovo", where from the beginning of the 90s he, together with his brother Ilya (also a master of sports in judo), was the actual owner of a car showroom, restaurant, disco club, hall slot machines, a furniture store, etc. The struggle for USZK, which peaked in 1996-1997, played a fatal role in the fate of the brothers.
The management of the complex itself and the Russian State Academy of Physical Education (RGAFK) fought with each other. The conflict was worth it: not only that, according to eyewitnesses, “they literally carried bags of money into Izmailovo” (there is a known case when, during a police visit there, someone threw a bag with $1 million out of the window, which was picked up by a janitor who happened to be passing by ), so many retail outlets have proliferated around, also bringing in considerable income.
The stumbling block was the legally unresolved issue of USZK ownership. The Academy considered him one of its own, and the general director of Izmailovo argued that USZK was a completely independent structure. At the same time, the management of the sports complex relied on the support of its position not from ordinary employees of the Moscow Main Internal Affairs Directorate and the FSB. She was also supported by Maxim Shenkov - also not the least important person in Izmailovo. For some time their arguments prevailed.
For the glory of Russian sports
Everything changed when a strong leader appeared in the RGAFK - a recent graduate of the academy, freestyle wrestler Alexander Bleer. Now he is the director of the Institute for Advanced Studies and Retraining of Personnel at the Russian State Academy of Physical Culture, a professor at the Department of Theory and Methodology of Wrestling and Oriental Martial Arts, and in 1993-1997 he worked as an assistant to the rector. He took upon himself the resolution of controversial issues with the USZK and with the businessmen who rented its land from the academy (USZK, the famous vernissage and the Izmailovsky markets are located on it).
Alexander Bleer was helped to resolve controversial issues by his fellow athletes and academy students, whom he himself trained. We started with the traders. Some were kicked out, others stopped placing their points anywhere and began to pay money more or less accurately. As a result, RGAFK, deprived of state funding, began to receive quite decent funds.
True, Alexander Bleer himself had problems: an operational case was opened in the Moscow RUBOP, where he was listed as the leader of an organized criminal group suspected of several murders. However, Mr. Bleer told a Kommersant correspondent that he had nothing to do with organized or unorganized crime, much less any kind of murder, that he always acted within the framework of the law and only in the interests of Russian sports in general and the academy in particular. As for the operational matter, according to him, it appeared after the refusal to pay tribute to the Rubopovites: “They directly warned me then - expect trouble.” But everything worked out, and the operational case was eventually closed.
But there were more serious problems. USZK did not give up, and the company “Ekure-service”, owned by a certain citizen of Jordan, which rented a plot of land on the land of RGAFK for its market, began to lay claim to part of the adjacent territory where the retail space of the sportsmen’s company “Rikom” was located. According to investigators, the interests of USZK and Ekure-Service in this conflict were represented by Maxim Shenkov’s “team”.
In the summer of 1997, it came to a showdown. First, one of Alexander Bleer’s men was shot, then the athletes demolished several Ekure-Service outlets, and after that, in broad daylight at the Ricom market, two dozen thugs cut with knives and beat two Ricom managers, graduate students, with rebar rods RGAFK, students of Mr. Bleer. Doctors later pulled both of them out of the other world.
It was after this that Maxim Shenkov’s “brigade” became interested in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where by this time Alexander Bleer was already their man. The fact is that in the summer of 1997 he created something like a fund with a very complex and long name, which, for simplicity, is briefly called “Sportakademgroup”. Mr. Blair headed it. The official goal is to protect the interests of organizations operating on the territory of RGAFK. In addition to the academy, the founders included the Foundation for Support of Veterans of Law Enforcement Agencies operating under the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the association of employees of the same bodies “Shield and Sword”. Mr. Bleer again works in both structures on a voluntary basis. And these connections turned out to be stronger than the connections of the USZK in the capital’s headquarters.
Suspects
In December 1997, then-Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Vladimir Kolesnikov gave instructions to liquidate the Golyanovsk organized crime group. The need for this was motivated by the fact that in October 1996 and December 1997, the vice-rector of the Russian State Academy of Physical Culture for Construction, Mikhail Bodin, and the head of the territorial association for land use regulation of the Eastern District, Antonina Lukina, were killed. Both murders, as stated in the order, could have been the work of the Golyanovskys.
True, who killed both of them has not been clarified, but, as a police colonel who had previously worked in the Moscow RUBOP later testified in court, the first to check for involvement in the murder of Antonina Lukina were not the Golyanovskys, but Alexander Bleer and his athletes. According to the colonel, there was no evidence against them, and then they took on the “Shenkovskys.” However, their involvement was not confirmed, and the murder cases were frozen.
Nevertheless, arrests began in April 1998. The first to go to jail were Maxim Shenkov and Alexander Sonis, who, according to investigators, was perhaps the most active member of the organized crime group. Following them, Ilya Shenkov was detained, but on the way to the police station he invited the operatives to look with him at the Bulgakov nightclub, where he left through the emergency exit.
In total, seven people were behind bars (five more, including Ilya Shenkov, are wanted). All have been charged with banditry, four murders (including the murder of the leader of a drug trafficking group, thief in law Boris Zilber, nicknamed the Rat), attempted murders, kidnappings, extortion and a number of smaller crimes. The investigation into this case was conducted for two years, first by the prosecutor's office of the Eastern District, then by the Moscow City Prosecutor's Office.
In the meantime, the legal status of the USZK was determined: soon after the defeat of the Golyanovskys, it was officially transferred to the balance of the Academy of Physical Education.
The security officer was promiscuous
With the exception of Max Golyanovsky, of all the accused, only one is of the greatest interest - FSB Colonel Igor Kushnikov. The prosecution considers him one of the leaders of the gang. A security officer with 22 years of experience worked in the information and analytical department of the FSB, where he was considered a specialist in macroeconomics. He was repeatedly awarded for impeccable service and official distinctions, but was burned for a relatively minor offense, in the opinion of his wife and lawyer. The colonel was let down by his connections with the family of the aforementioned Alexander Sonis.
The latter’s father served as a criminologist in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and, according to Mr. Kushnikov, provided him with significant assistance more than once. The grateful security officer, in turn, helped the criminologist: in November 1993, he pulled his son out of the police, who was drunk and driving a car down the street with a pistol under his arm. During the arrest, Sonis Jr. stuck the authentic identification of an employee of the Main Directorate of Security of the Ministry of Security (as the FSB was called at that time) in the nose of the police.
Interest in this story in law enforcement agencies awoke only four and a half years later, when they seriously took on the Golyanovskys. The FSB Investigation Department opened a criminal case against the colonel, and in April 1998 he was offered to resign. The security officer did so, and two weeks later he was arrested on charges of abuse of power. Igor Kushnikov was sent to the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center under the supervision of his close friend and business partner (they traded carpets), who at that time was the deputy head of the pre-trial detention center.
However, the FSB officers did not find anything interesting for themselves in this case and transferred the materials to the Moscow Military Prosecutor's Office. In the fall of 1998, the case was dropped due to an amnesty, and Igor Kushnikov was released. But not for long. The prosecutor's office of the Eastern District of Moscow combined the already closed case with the case of the Golyanov "brigade", and in February 1999, the amnestied colonel was again arrested. He has been sitting there ever since. Now he has been accused of much more serious crimes.
According to investigators, Igor Kushnikov was one of the leaders of the “Shenkov gang”, provided it with cover, and also supplied it with valuable information and special coupons prohibiting the inspection of cars. In addition, the prosecution charged him with illegal transactions with weapons. The last of these accusations was again related to Alexander Sonis.
The fact is that in December 1994 in Moscow, in the Khomutovsky dead end, in the apartment rented by Sonis, an arsenal was found neatly stored in safes: Agran submachine guns, two dozen TTs, sniper rifles, machine guns, etc. Who owned all this? household, they did not find out then, since Sonis rented out the apartment to his friend, a paratrooper, who was later killed. At the same time, the seizure protocol and part of the weapon itself disappeared somewhere. Nevertheless, in 1998, the investigation decided that all this property belonged to the Golyanov group. And Sonis himself testified during interrogations that he personally transported the arsenal. And Igor Kushnikov allegedly helped him. However, Sonis generally told a lot about the activities of the “brigade”, but even during the investigation he refused everything, and in court he stated that he was heavily fed with psychotropic drugs.
Broken trump card
One way or another, the case was transferred to the military court of the Moscow garrison. Last Friday marked exactly two years since the start of the process. The results for the investigation are disappointing.
During the trial, the state prosecutor clutched his head with a hopeless look when, during the hearings, inconsistencies in the case materials and outright falsifications surfaced. It turned out, for example, that the witness signed a different interrogation protocol than was read out in court. And this is not his signature at all. In addition, it turned out that the witness who spoke about the activities of the “Shenkov gang” could not know anything about it, since at that time he had already been in prison for a long time and firmly for theft. But since he knew one of the accused from the pre-trial detention center, the Murovsky operatives, together with the investigator, were not too lazy to go to the camp and break his ribs during interrogations (there is a corresponding medical certificate). This is how another witness for the prosecution turned out.
Other witnesses also complained that operatives either locked them in a bullpen or threatened to plant weapons and drugs. The leitmotif was: “I signed what I was told.”
There is no need to talk about the accused: they told the court in unison about the “pressure of the investigation” and renounced all their previous testimony, taken as the basis for the accusation.
However, the prosecution had at least two trump cards: Alexander Bleer and businessman Vadim Kanengiser. The latter was once engaged in trading gold and jewelry in Russia and the CIS, but in October last year he ended up in a pre-trial detention center on charges of drug possession.
Mr. Kanengiser told the investigation that the Golyanovskys, who at one time were his “protection”, gave him his “freedom”, but demanded $6 million for it. To be convincing, they kidnapped and cut his brother, after which the businessman paid the extortionists about $2 million in parts.
However, recently in court Vadim Kanengiser unexpectedly retracted his words. In the presence of his lawyer, he stated that completely different people “attacked” him, and he slandered these “under pressure from the investigation.”
This is how hope dies
But there remained one more important witness - Professor Alexander Bleer, on whom the prosecution had high hopes. After all, during the preliminary investigation, he said that Maxim Shenkov personally shot one of his men, that the security officer Igor Kushnikov helped solve the problems of the Golyanovskys, and that another defendant, Sergei Buriy, took an active part in the attempts of the Shenkovites to seize the territory of the RGAFK.
In addition, the protocol of his interrogation contains a sensational statement about which of the high-ranking police officers provided valuable services to the leadership of the USZK and the Golyanov “brigade” for money. This, as it is written there, was police general Vasily Kuptsov, who headed the MUR until the fall of 1996, and then, as deputy head of the Moscow Main Internal Affairs Directorate, headed the criminal police service of the central administration (currently Mr. Kuptsov does not work in the police).
The appearance of such a valuable witness could make significant changes in the course of the trial. True, the court managed to get it only last week. Before this, they couldn’t figure out how to deliver a summons to the tricky address indicated in the case: Orekhovo-Zuevsky district, house 44. In the end, they decided to send it directly to RGAFK.
But the witness did not live up to the hopes of the investigation, but greatly pleased the lawyers. The professor stated that he did not know any of the defendants, and everything that he had previously told about their activities, he himself learned from MUR operatives. They, according to him, told him about General Kuptsov.
“And in the protocol you tell everything in the first person, quite categorically and without any references,” the judge noted.
“But I didn’t compose it,” Mr. Bleer retorted.
- However, you signed it...
There was no clear explanation for this remark. But it turned out that the case was missing at least one more protocol of Mr. Bleer’s interrogation.
“And this is a question for the investigator,” said a valuable witness.
This ended the interrogation. In parting, the judge only asked the professor to tell one of the RGAFK employees, the former head of Ricom, that he had also been expected in court for a long time. As, indeed, the two victims - those same brutally beaten employees of the same Ricom, whom the court cannot find in any way, but with whom Mr. Bleer often communicates.
“Well, now,” said the judge, “let’s look at the protocol of Sonis’ interrogation.” After thinking for a second, he added: “In any case, that’s what it says here.”
Kommersant will continue to monitor this case.
Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences. Rector of the Russian State University of Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism (RGUPFKSiT) and head of the department of theory and methodology of applied sports and extreme activities. Professor. Academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. Honored Trainer of Russia.
Born on February 9, 1967 in Novopavlovsk (Stavropol Territory). Graduated from the coaching department of the State Central Institute of Physical Culture with a degree in “Teacher-coach in classical wrestling” (1990), Institute of International Law and Economics named after A.S. Griboyedov, majoring in Jurisprudence, qualified as a Lawyer (1999), Faculty of Management Psychology of the Russian Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation (2004).
Provides scientific and methodological assistance in preparing Russian national teams of hearing impaired people in swimming, Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling for the Deaf Olympic Games, World, European and Russian Championships. In the period from 2002 to 2004, as part of a humanitarian mission of the Main Personnel Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, he traveled to the Temporary Operational Group of bodies and units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs conducting a counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus region.
He was awarded the medals of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 1st and 3rd class, badges of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, gratitude from the Minister of Internal Affairs of Russia, the head of the Moscow Main Internal Affairs Directorate.
Over the years of its existence, Cherkizon was destined to become an odious symbol of the unbreakable union of business, corruption and ethnic crime. For some, its existence made it a happy owner of cheap jeans, while for others it was about huge, uncontrolled by the state and, accordingly, tax-free cash flows. However, it is too early to put an end to the history of Cherkizon, at least as long as Alexander Bleer is at the helm of the Russian State University of Physical Education, on the territory of which Cherkizon “was” located. “The Telman Ismailovs come and go, but Alexander Bleer remains,” - this is precisely the maxim that can be arrived at by studying in detail the present and past of Cherkizon. After its official closure in 2009, a certain group of people did not want to lose the huge cash flows passing through them. And a solution was found...
While the police and migration services of Moscow are intensively “combing” the Moscow markets after a series of high-profile incidents, as a result of which, first, a criminal investigation officer ended up in intensive care, and under the territory of the Russian State University of Physical Culture (now - GCOLIFK) there is a real underground city in which illegal residents live and several thousand migrants work in underground workshops. Neither the Moscow authorities nor the law enforcement agencies have been able or willing to make the efforts necessary to eliminate this “underworld” for many years. Creepy creatures from American blockbusters may seem harmless creatures compared to the criminal, terrorist and social evil that can at any moment spill out from dark dungeons onto the streets of Moscow.
The above-ground part of this iceberg, also located on the territory of the Russian State University of Physical Culture, already became a joint target of the police, the media and the public in July 2013. Second time we. 
As a result of the raids, not just an illegal market, workshops and migrant shelters were revealed: before the eyes of the participants, a real city stretched out, living according to its own laws. It is not so easy to penetrate this “cancerous tumor” on the territory of Moscow - the territory is guarded by a private security company. Just in appearance, piles of garbage, dead rats and other unsanitary conditions create a feeling of total disorganization. In fact, the life of the underground city is carefully regulated and controlled by its owners. The territory, premises and entrances are monitored by video surveillance cameras, the data from which flows to the control center. The owners know what is happening on their territory. And besides the underground workshops, last time a large batch of drugs was also discovered...
Monitoring center for underground workshops and migrant dormitories on Cherkizon.
A large batch of drugs found in one of the migrants' dormitories.
Here are more drugs found during the August raid. By the way, do you know where they were found? At the Ekaterina Hotel, located on the territory of the former Cherkizon. This hotel does not exist at all according to documents. To be precise, it was erected without the appropriate permits and, by court decision, should be demolished altogether. However, it functions smoothly - almost never a single room is empty. In total, there are about 200 of them in “Ekaterina”. The cost of living is at least 1000 rubles per night per person. According to the most conservative estimates (if not all double rooms are occupied), at least 300,000 rubles are collected per night for just one stay. For a month it’s no less than 9 million. And this is the minimum for accommodation. The hotel also has its own nightclub. This summer we found about 20 drinking establishments alone on the territory of Cherkizon. All of them operate illegally. Almost every night there are shootings and stabbings.
The main contingent of the Ekaterina Hotel are vigorous, athletic people from Dagestan and other republics of the North Caucasus. To communicate with them, as the reader noted, you need the appropriate attitude and equipment. Judging by the fact that in the presence of employees of the Izmailovo police department, some of them did not hesitate to rush at the raid participants with knives, the ideology of banditry and Wahhabism is clearly closer to them than Russian legislation. There is no need to say that no migration registration or document checks are carried out upon check-in, nor is there any control of items brought in. The Ministry of Internal Affairs can only guess where the FMS is looking, but most of the questions in connection with the careless activities of this transshipment base in Moscow arise to the Service for the Protection of the Constitutional System and the Fight against Terrorism of the FSB. For example, during the August raid, documents addressed to an employee of the Russian Federal Security Service were found in one of the rooms of “Ekaterina”. Obviously, their owner was not as fast and decisive as the individual guests of this hotel.
To understand why such things happened and are happening on the territory of a state university, you need to thoroughly understand the personality of Alexander Bleer, a former employee, and since 2006 - the rector of the Russian State University of Physical Culture. In the 90s, it was he who stood at the origins of the transformation of RGUFK from a center of sports education into an economic entity. It was he who then put together a strong and well-coordinated criminal group, which managed to acquire the necessary connections among security forces and officials and, if not win, then end in a military draw, the war that unfolded for Cherkizon in the 90s. The Golyanovskaya organized crime group was less fortunate then. The logical conclusion of using a university for profit was the actual collapse of the system of training sports personnel and the material and educational base. The teaching staff wrote to Dmitry Medvedev about this in April 2011. This cry from the soul of dozens of teachers of RGUFK did not find a response in the heart of the president. This can be judged by the fact that Alexander Bleer, with no less passion, continues to revel in the power entrusted to him, receiving the desired profits from the territory of RGUFK.
What is RGUFk? This is about 66.5 hectares of expensive Moscow land. 80% of the area of the notorious “Cherkizon” belonged precisely to the territory of the Russian State University of Physical Culture, this is federal land (the remaining 20% belonged to Moscow). Such open spaces were given to RGUFK from Moscow back in 1997. And although former rector Oleg Matytsin was convicted for their misuse, it was Alexander Bleer and his comrades who then began to realize the economic potential of the territories. Most of the market was placed under the control of Telman Ismailov and his company AST. In 1997, Alexander Bleer created and headed the “Commonwealth to promote the development and coordination of the interests of enterprises and organizations operating on the territory of the Russian State Academy of Physical Culture” (abbreviated as “Sportakademgroup”). "Sportakademgroup" joined the international association for the support of law and order and the protection of citizens from criminal attacks "Shield and Sword". The founders of “Sportakademgroup” at that time were: RGAFK, CJSC “Union of Business People” (founders Bleer, Vorobyov and Sharipov), “Sportakadembank”, “Social and Legal Protection Service for Employees of the Moscow City Internal Affairs Directorate” (Godovanyuk V.K.), security agency “Uldis”, CJSC “AN FAUST” (founder Bleer), CJSC “Rikom” (on the territory of RGAFKA there was the “Rikom” market, which before the 2008 crisis gave at least $1.2 million in net tax-free profit). All these structures were closely aligned with the same circle of trusted persons. For example, the founder of Sportakadembank was Vernissage Izmailovo LLC, headed by partner Alexander Bleer Alexander Ushakov. But at the same time, Vernissage Izmailovo LLC itself was 20% owned by RGUFK (the remaining 80% belonged to two individuals). In the past, close business partners have now fallen out: between RGUFK and Vernissage there are now legal battles over land plots and buildings.
In 2009, when Cherkizon was closed, by decision of the Arbitration Court, the General Director of Vernissage Izmailovo LLC, Alexander Ushakov, was arrested in 2000 in connection with the murder of Lukina (investigator Kanev). The Vernissage Izmailovo complex occupies an area of 20 hectares. In March 2005, the territory of the complex was set on fire. In October 2012, Vernissage burned again. Alexander Ushakov then stated that it was arson.
Since 2001, they have tried to close the market three times, but all times without success. For a long time, the decision of the Moscow Arbitration Court, which decided to clear the territory occupied by trade, was ignored. And only in 2009, Cherkizon was hit by the first serious shake-up. “This shithole needs to be closed, and we will bring this matter to an end in the near future,” said the head of the SKP, Bastrykin, and the authorities rolled up their sleeves and got to work. At the same time, the market found itself in the midst of a scandal involving smuggled children's toys, which were recognized by experts as harmful to health. According to the investigation alone, up to 6,000 containers of smuggled cargo worth $2 billion were stored on the market at that time.
Despite all the fears and doubts, Cherkizon was still closed. However, not all of it was closed. As it turned out later, the territory of Cherkizon included an extensive network of underground structures, where thousands, or even tens of thousands, of migrant workers worked and lived safely. The underground part of the Cherkizovsky market is almost twice as large as the above-ground part. Here, in multi-tiered bunkers for migrants, almost an entire underground city is equipped. People have lived and worked here for years. There are residential sections, labor shops, warehouses, and even brothel restaurants and a casino. As Yuri Korneyuk, an employee of the patrol service regiment of the Eastern Administrative District, says, on the territory of Cherkizovsky, under the asphalt, there is an entire underground complex of five floors! Large halls and spacious corridors with high ceilings adjoin Stalin's bunker. . All this continues to exist to this day. We have hectares of underground space, hidden from taxes, drug control, police, and immigration control. All these areas are located underground on the territory of RGUFK. The prosperous life of this underground world was ensured by a reliable cover - Blair was in close ties with prosecutors. Finances and innovative development at his university are headed by Tarasenko M.V., with whom they were part of the same criminal group in the 90s. In June 2009, a criminal case was opened against Bleer under Part 3 of Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (abuse of official powers). According to the head of the capital department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Anatoly Bagmet, “the suspect (the rector of the Russian State University of Physical Culture), using his powers... entered into lease agreements with commercial organizations, but rental payments were transferred to the settlement accounts of the Russian State University of Physical Culture, bypassing the federal budget.” Damage to the state amounted to 77.6 million rubles. But Bleer managed to escape the charges and put the former rector of the Russian State University of Physical Culture, Oleg Matytsin, under attack. In 2011, a second criminal case followed, this time for non-payment of taxes to the federal budget in the amount of 120 million rubles.
Since our summer raids, the situation with the presence of illegal migrants and underground workshops has not changed at all. Mass clearings of migrants in Moscow somehow safely bypass the territory of even the above-ground Cherkizon. To clean out the underground city, it will probably take at least a military brigade. In order to remove the odious mafioso Alexander Bleer, only political will is needed. Thick folders have been accumulated on this character since the 90s, which are regularly updated. One of our sources claims that for now there is a command not to touch any of the corrupt officials in sports until the end of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, so as not to stir up the political background around the games. Is such concern for the image of the security country of Moscow and Muscovites worth it? We strongly doubt it. But we have no doubt that workers of illegal workshops and residents of illegal hotels have committed and continue to commit dozens and hundreds of crimes on the streets of the capital, then dissolving in the bottomless expanses of Cherkizon. We believe that it is high time to put an end to the existence of this cesspool.