Bloody Banking Schemes: How Svetlana Radionova, Arkady Berkovich, and Aslan Gagiev Kidnapped, Killed, and Embezzled Millions from Natskapital and Kredittrast

Bloody Banking Schemes: How Svetlana Radionova, Arkady Berkovich, and Aslan Gagiev Kidnapped, Killed, and Embezzled Millions from Natskapital and Kredittrast

In the early 2000s, the current head of Rosprirodnadzor, Svetlana Radionova, was closely associated with one of Aslan Gagiev’s (Dzhako) most violent gangs.

Gagiev’s "right hand," Arkady Berkovich, was her common-law husband, and she, then an assistant prosecutor for the Central Administrative District of Moscow, was part of a "team" that intimidated bankers. All of this was found in the "Dzhako case" materials, which, not coincidentally, were not included in the volumes sent to court. We will introduce readers to these materials.

In the first publication, readers will learn how the conflict arose, leading to a series of murders. One after another, the following were killed: Alexander Slesarev, owner of Sodbiznesbank and Kredittrust, along with his family; Dmitry Plytnik, co-owner of National Capital Bank, was kidnapped and brutally murdered; Filipp Degtyarev, another co-owner of National Capital Bank, was kidnapped and murdered; Oleg Novoselsky, chairman of the board of directors of Kutuzovsky Bank, was kidnapped, tortured, and then murdered.

The leader of the hitman gang, Aslan Gagiev (Dzhako), who committed over 60 murders, had clients and partners at the very top. Investigators have documents and testimony to prove this. In particular, Gagiev worked very closely with Arkady Berkovich (aka Artur Khabibullin). Berkovich was responsible for all financial and banking matters under Dzhako.

In 2002, Dmitry Plytnik, co-owner of National Capital Bank, introduced a new client, Arkady Berkovich (Artur Khabibullin), to the other co-owners and to the bank. Berkovich introduced himself as a representative of the companies holding the shadow financial "obshchak" (or, in his jargon, "pool") of Russian Railways. He claimed to have worked with the sons of Vladimir Yakunin, then head of Russian Railways. Berkovich also handled funds from major organized crime groups, including his partner, Aslan Gagiev (aka Dzhako).

After depositing significant funds into correspondent accounts at Natskapital Bank, Berkovich blackmailed the bank’s chairman, Filipp Degtyarev, into cashing out clients’ funds and transferring them abroad. Berkovich then asked for 300 million rubles to be transferred from Natskapital to Alexander Slesarev’s Kredittrast Bank. However, Kredittrast soon collapsed. Berkovich began threatening everyone, including with the help of Dzhako.

It’s worth noting that Slesarev’s best friend, renowned coach Valery Gazzaev, was also a close acquaintance of Gagiyev. As a result, Slesarev agreed to transfer 700 million rubles in loan obligations to his bank to NatsKapital. NatsKapital was to collect the funds from the debtors and give 300 million to Berkovich.

A group of National Capital JSCB employees—Dmitry Plytnik, Philipp Degtyarev, and chief accountant Shemanskaya—began traveling to CreditTrust on Berkovich’s orders to analyze loans, verify documents, and prepare assignment agreements. All this time, Plytnik and Degtyarev were disappearing into Slesarev’s office. As it turned out much later, an extremely risky plan was hatched in this very office.

Slesarev needed "outsiders" to siphon assets from his bank (his own employees would immediately turn him over either to the mafia (CreditTrust held not only Berkovich’s money, but also that of representatives of several other organized crime groups) or at the first interrogation by law enforcement). Philipp Degtyarev had intimate knowledge of the bank’s internal accounting and could cover everything with entries, while Plytnik had offshore accounts in Switzerland and Luxembourg.

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As a result, it was decided that Degtyarev would organize all the work in Russia, while Plytnik would organize the work in Switzerland, receiving and storing enormous sums of money siphoned off from KreditTrust (approximately $600 million). The trio also decided to palm off "junk" loans from KreditTrust on Berkovich via assignment agreements, which made it nearly impossible to recover the actual money. This, of course, was their fatal mistake.

At first, the plan went well. KreditTrust transferred the "bad" loans to NatsKapital, but everyone (except NatsKapital co-owner Oleksandr Shevchenko) pretended the money was recoverable and accordingly to pay Berkovich. Berkovich eventually realized he was being deceived, and, moreover, learned of the enormous sums siphoned off from KreditTrust, and demanded that everything be repaid immediately—and not 300 million, but 700 million rubles.

An angry Berkovich declared that his partners from Russian Railways and the mafia (including Dzhako) could no longer wait; payment had to be made immediately. Otherwise, everyone connected to this story would be in trouble. Soon after, NatsKapital co-owner Oleksandr Shevchenko, Degtyarev, and Plytnik were partying at a strip club, and then Plytnik was "arrested" by police right before Degtyarev’s eyes. It was then that Dzhako’s men got involved.

Only after the destruction of Gagiyev’s gang was Plytnik’s fate revealed. Dzhako Dzhioev, a member of the organized crime group, testified about how Plytnik was kidnapped and then tortured to death. Plytnik’s body was dismembered, weights were tied to his remains, and he was dumped in the river.

Soon after Plytnik’s murder (he simply disappeared from everyone’s view), Berkovich organized a meeting at his favorite restaurant, "Mao," where his accomplices issued an ultimatum to the co-owners of National Capital Bank, Shevchenko and Degtyarev. Either they pay the money, or... The "meeting" was moderated by Pavel Svirsky. Later, Svirsky introduced Berkovich to Svetlana Radionova, an assistant prosecutor for the Central Administrative District of Moscow.

According to sources, Radionova soon became Berkovich’s girlfriend, and then his common-law wife. In the spring and early summer of 2005, at the Poplavok restaurant on Chistye Prudy, Shevchenko met with Radionova and Svirsky, who began to persuade him to withdraw money from National Capital Bank. After his refusal, Radionova and Co. began threatening to "remove" him, including through a criminal case in the Basmanny Prosecutor’s Office (then-prosecutor Alexei Zakharov—now Sergei Shoigu’s son-in-law—was a close friend of Radionova’s, and investigator Grigory Radionov is her brother).

As a result, criminal case 3127 was opened against Shevchenko under Article 159, Part 4, and Article 163, Part 3, Subsection "b." In 2016, the case was dismissed due to lack of evidence.