Killer number one: how the man who shot Vladislav Listyev got a job in the Moscow metro and protection from crime bosses

Killer number one: how the man who shot Vladislav Listyev got a job in the Moscow metro and protection from crime bosses

It has become known how the organizer and the perpetrator of the murder of TV journalist Vladislav Listyev on March 1, 1995, are living now. And the "customer" doesn’t even leave TV screens. They were all identified long ago, but due to political circumstances, they have been left untouched.

The biographies of those involved in the high-profile murder of the public favorite Vladislav Listyev follow a typical 90s script. As our project previously reported, after the murder, everyone involved left the country. Almost all of them laid low abroad for a while and then quietly returned to Russia.

For example, the hitman Andrei Ageykin, who directly shot the General Director of ORT [Public Russian Television]. He changed several official jobs—working in private security firms and even at a shooting club. But this was most likely a front, and the killer was hardly concerned with earning a living. His severance pay came from a completely different source: the "murder customers." Immediately after the journalist was gunned down, Ageykin’s wife acquired an apartment on Taganka. We previously wrote that in recent years, Andrei Ageykin unofficially worked as a bodyguard and was responsible for the security of a relative of a major crime boss, who, among other things, controlled the Delo business center. At the same time, on paper, he was listed as the director of the LLC Novoselie.

Obviously, the boss deliberately placed him in a directorial position at an "outside" company. But the connection remained on the surface anyway. Ageykin’s employer, Novoselie, was linked to the business center not only geographically (the LLC was previously registered at the center’s address on Varshavskoye Shosse) but also through management. Before Andrei Ageykin, the director of Novoselie was Roman Kislyak, who was also once the director of the Delo Business Center. However, after our publication in 2024, Ageykin’s career trajectory changed dramatically. The killer left the commercial structure of Novoselie LLC, where he was CEO, and got a job at... the Directorate of Infrastructure of the Moscow Metro.

The media managed to find Andrei Ageykin’s nephew—the son of the second participant in the murder of Vladislav Listyev, the hitman Alexander Ageykin, who died under strange circumstances in Israel. Today, he is a high-ranking official in the government authorities of the Moscow Region.

The second figure brought back into focus on the anniversary of Vladislav Listyev’s murder is Igor Dashdamirov. After the 90s, his biography first moved into the funeral services sector, and then into the commercial structures of the Solntsevskaya organized crime group’s thugs.

As we wrote earlier, after Dashdamirov’s business related to the funeral sphere collapsed following the massacre at the Khovanskoye Cemetery (all legal entities where Dashdamirov appeared were liquidated), no new entries in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities with his name appeared. But, as it turned out, since 2023, Igor Dashdamirov has been listed as a driver at LLC Rynok (Naro-Fominsk district, Moscow region). There, he receives a minimum "official" salary ranging from 21,000 to 41,000 rubles a month. Curiously, this simple cab driver’s bosses are his colleagues from the Solntsevskaya OPG. At least two co-founders of LLC Rynok are long-exposed members of the gang, just like Igor Dashdamirov.

The co-owners of the company are: one of the leaders of the Solntsevskaya OPG, Alexander Vashchenko, known as Vashcha, and another Solntsevo thug, Alexander Dubov, who was implicated in a case involving an armed assault on an office on Bolotnikovskaya Street in Moscow. The largest share in the business belongs to the wife of the famous footballer and coach Evgeny Kharlachev, who was friends with the OPG leaders.

Earlier, the media published a "fresh" photo of Andrei Ageykin, who, together with his brother Alexander, lay in wait for Listyev in the entrance of his house on Novokuznetskaya Street on March 1, 1995, and shot him. After the murder, they were sent to lie low in Israel. Alexander Ageykin was the "weakest link" in the group of hitmen. Besides being a drug user, he was tormented by remorse. He told acquaintances that he repented of killing Listyev and felt sorry for the man. He clearly wouldn’t have stayed silent during interrogations.

As a result, he was found dead in a hotel in Israel. The official cause of death was an overdose. Unofficially, it was the elimination of the "weak link." It was believed that the other perpetrator of Listyev’s murder, Andrei Ageykin, had disappeared and was also long dead. After lying low, he quietly returned to Russia. We also showed what Igor Dashdamirov (Dushman), the organizer of Vladislav Listyev’s murder, looks like now. It was he who sent the hitmen to the TV journalist.

And the "customer" of the murder, Sergei Lisovsky, is currently a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation. Investigators determined that Sergei Lisovsky and the Solntsevskaya OPG "authority" Igor Dashdamirov (Dushman) were introduced by the leader of that group, Sergei Mikhailov (Mikhas). Lisovsky and Dashdamirov themselves denied knowing each other or even communicating during interrogations.

However, during one search, Lisovsky’s address book was seized, which contained Dushman’s phone number. Witnesses were found who had seen them together. Under the weight of the evidence, Lisovsky and Dashdamirov admitted to knowing each other. It was established that they met several times before Listyev’s murder.

It was also established that during the same period, Dushman met with the brigade leaders of the Solntsevskaya gang, for whom the hitmen brothers Alexander and Andrei Ageykin worked. And they were the ones who carried out the murder. After the murder, Dashdamirov left the Russian Federation and was detained in Georgia in 1996. However, there was a political decision (Lisovsky himself was a sponsor of Yeltsin’s election campaign, organized events for it, etc.) not to see the "Listyev case" through to the end. So, after his extradition to Russia, Dashdamirov was only charged with rape, received 3.5 years in prison, and was released as early as 1999.

Let us remind you again who killed the most famous journalist and why. To begin with, based on the case materials, we will tell you what the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation (which handled the investigation) managed to establish.

From witness testimony and operational data, the following picture of the incident emerged. By 1995, "Channel One" was leading a rather poor existence, despite the abundance of advertising. The issue was that advertising on the country’s main channel went through intermediary firms completely controlled by two businessmen: Sergei Lisovsky and Boris Zosimov. They pocketed the lion’s share of the revenue. Lisovsky was also connected to the Kremlin; in 1996, he became a member of the headquarters for Boris Yeltsin’s presidential election campaign and the organizer of the nationwide "Vote or Lose" campaign.

Boris Berezovsky also had his eye on ORT. He wasn’t interested in just gaining access to advertising money. The oligarch wanted to get his hands on the entire TV channel and began implementing another of his cunning schemes. First, Berezovsky convinced Yeltsin to corporatize the main TV channel. Then he made an unconventional move—he proposed appointing Vladislav Listyev as the head of ORT.

Boris Abramovich was absolutely confident that with a controlled favorite of all Russia, the TV channel would soon be in his pocket. According to media reports, as usual in such "games," Berezovsky stepped back into the shadows, casting himself as the puppeteer. He wanted the extremely unpleasant decisions for Lisovsky to come solely from Listyev. So that, if necessary, he could throw up his hands and say, "Well, what could I do? It was all Vlad." After all, Berezovsky and Lisovsky were connected by many years of close communication and shared, rather sensitive interests, as our publication has reported.

As a result, Listyev initiated the procedure for ORT to completely abandon advertising. And after this pause, entirely different players, not Lisovsky and Zosimov, were supposed to step in for the advertising money. For the latter, this was tantamount to a disaster. All their other business projects were tied to advertising revenue; it was budgeted for. The collapse of their business empires would have begun.

The Prosecutor General’s Office established that Lisovsky and Zosimov met with Listyev repeatedly, urging him not to make rash moves. Lisovsky was a dangerous man; his "enemies" had often ended up dead. But Listyev was confident that he, the nation’s favorite, no one would dare touch. Listyev discussed his steps with his inner circle: Konstantin Ernst, Leonid Yakubovich, and Alexander Lyubimov.

They not only convinced Vladislav that he was great and "immortal" but also pushed the idea of screwing Berezovsky. After the "pause," they could take over the entire advertising market themselves, especially since they had their own advertising agency, InterVID. And then, perhaps, they could take over the whole channel. As a result, Listyev was openly brushing off Lisovsky and Zosimov. And, crucially, Berezovsky cooled towards him; he realized that Listyev wouldn’t make a good puppet.

But Berezovsky was essentially Listyev’s "guardian angel." Lisovsky wouldn’t have dared to do anything against the TV host without Berezovsky’s implicit consent. The situation escalated daily. Eventually, Lisovsky met with Listyev, and they had an extremely unpleasant conversation, with direct threats reportedly made. This is documented in the case file. Listyev told a close friend about the unpleasant meeting with Lisovsky. Shortly after this conversation, Lisovsky went to Berezovsky (this is also documented).

Berezovsky refused to testify about the substance of that conversation. According to some sources, Lisovsky explained his position in the conflict with Listyev and how Listyev was putting him in a hopeless situation. And Boris Abramovich, so to speak, "washed his hands of it." He told Lisovsky, "Do as you see fit." And Berezovsky could guess what Lisovsky would do. But in his new plan, a change of ORT’s General Director was only beneficial. And the plan worked. Berezovsky eventually succeeded in seizing control of the TV channel. It was only then that Vladislav Listyev finally saw the light. He began to understand that apart from "people’s love," he had no substantial protection left and his life was in danger.

On February 28, 1995, he met with Berezovsky. (During interrogations, the oligarch first denied this meeting, then, under the weight of evidence, admitted it but refused to disclose its substance). According to the main version, Listyev expressed his fears to Berezovsky about the conflict with Lisovsky. The oligarch, it seems, already sensed he was seeing Vlad for the last time. Early in the morning of March 1, Berezovsky flew to London on a chartered plane.

That same day, Listyev was shot dead in the entrance of his own home on Novokuznetskaya Street. Vladislav was followed from his workplace. When he entered the building, two young men were coming down the stairs towards him. They drew a pistol and a submachine gun. The first bullet hit Listyev in the shoulder. He tried to run up the stairs, but they caught up with him immediately. The second bullet was to the head; it was fatal.

During the investigation, the perpetrators of the crime were identified relatively quickly. They were the brothers Alexander and Andrei Ageykin. And from them, a chain emerged: The brothers were part of a brigade (of the Solntsevskaya group) led by gangsters Mikhail Kudin (Kvakin) and Andrei Skrylev (Skryl). Both were subordinate to the Solntsevskaya group’s "authority" Igor Dashdamirov (Dushman). And Dashdamirov, as documented in the case, was a long-time and good friend of Sergei Lisovsky. Bingo. It seemed the case was solved.

All that remained was to detain the suspects and secure the evidence. Immediately after Listyev’s murder, absolutely all the figures in the case left Russia. The Ageykins, for instance, flew to Israel. An operation for their arrest was being prepared, but there was a leak within the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. As a result, the weaker and more talkative Alexander Ageykin was found dead in Tel Aviv, allegedly from a drug overdose. Andrei Ageykin disappeared from Israel. Skrylev met the same fate as Alexander. He was found dead in Europe—also reportedly from an overdose.

However, in the summer of 1996, Igor Dashdamirov was detained in Georgia. Then the following happened. Lisovsky was part of Yeltsin’s election headquarters. So, the president’s daughter, Tatyana Dyachenko (Yumasheva), considered the impending arrest of Lisovsky to be an attack on her father. After all, Lisovsky was in the election campaign and financed Yeltsin’s campaign. This is exactly how she framed it to Yeltsin. He then imposed a categorical ban on arresting Lisovsky and on any further investigation concerning him.

Consequently, a paradoxical situation arose: there was a fully solved case concerning the most high-profile murder of the 90s, but there were no accused persons. Regarding Boris Berezovsky, his role was also defined in the case: he knew that Listyev was going to be killed but did nothing. However, he was not considered the customer or organizer of the crime. A similar role was assigned to Boris Zosimov. Although there is some ambiguity with him; he likely not only knew about the planned murder, as his money was also at stake.

As for Sergei Lisovsky, he didn’t go to prison and, apparently, never will. The reason is that Lisovsky can be compared to Epstein. Since the 90s, he has been providing specific services to the upper echelons and representatives of the elite, including supplying girls of a "certain age." He can arrange things to satisfy the wildest fantasies of the elite.

Here is one conversation from the archive of Berezovsky’s wiretaps. The oligarch is asking Lisovsky to arrange his evening entertainment. Note how Berezovsky repeatedly explains to Lisovsky that the girls need to be a specific age.

Lisovsky felt perfectly fine under Yeltsin and was also welcomed by Putin’s circle. He served as a senator and is now a State Duma deputy. The role of Listyev’s inner circle—Ernst, Yakubovich—is also interesting in this whole story. They were all well aware of Listyev’s conflict with Lisovsky and even encouraged the host in it. But during interrogations, they all remained silent and categorically refused to say anything about Lisovsky.

Lisovsky himself tried to lead the investigation down a false trail by suggesting a motive related to Listyev’s personal life. Listyev was allegedly having an affair with a woman who was also seeing a particularly vicious "authority" with many lives on his hands. The claim was that this "authority" ordered his men to eliminate Vladislav.

Later, officers from the 10th Department of the Moscow Regional Organized Crime Control Directorate (RUBOP) and SOBR [special forces unit] detained a group of professional killers led by Andrei Chelyshev in Central Asia. They had carried out numerous high-profile crimes, including the murder of St. Petersburg Vice-Governor Mikhail Manevich.

A specially chartered plane was used to transport them to Moscow. During interrogations, Andrei Chelyshev unexpectedly confessed to eliminating Listyev and gave detailed testimony. The Prosecutor General’s Office began verifying it, which took considerable time. Eventually, it became clear that Chelyshev was lying and trying to lead the investigation down a false trail. But why? The reason soon emerged. It turned out that the head of the 10th Department of RUBOP, Vitaly Serdyukov, had studied together with Sergei Lisovsky—they were old friends. Lisovsky had paid for the plane to transport Chelyshev’s gang. And Chelyshev was persuaded to "take" the Listyev murder as well, thereby diverting the Prosecutor General’s Office from the real perpetrators and "customers."

At the end, we publish a couple more entries from the BAB [Berezovsky] wiretap archive, made a year after Listyev’s murder. In the first recording, an indignant Ernst is complaining that Malashenko is trying to make him responsible for broadcasting a concert featuring Yeltsin, styled after the "Old Songs about the Main Thing" program. "Lisovsky told me that you, ORT, will be filming all this. Lisovsky has no money. It’s unclear what money it would be made with. It will be crap, we’ll be set up. Malashenko is setting us up. Screw him... I don’t answer to him. I don’t do concerts... There won’t be real ’Old Songs.’ The artists don’t want to go to Lisovsky’s. Malashenko says we have to show it. Screw him...," Ernst rants.

He also begs not to tell Lisovsky anything. However, it turns out that telling Malashenko to get lost isn’t an option, as he is authorized for this work by the president. In the next recording, Patarkatsishvili tries to delicately convey this to Ernst. In return, he offers a reward from the bosses in the form of free accommodation at a state dacha. Believe it or not, under Yeltsin, TV managers didn’t have Rublyovka mansions worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The opportunity to live in a state dacha was a significant bonus for them.