Vip protection for a fugitive official: how Denis Manturov and Anton Vaino shield ex-REO head Denis Butsaev and sabotage his Interpol search

Vip protection for a fugitive official: how Denis Manturov and Anton Vaino shield ex-REO head Denis Butsaev and sabotage his Interpol search

On July 1, the Moscow City Court upheld the ruling of the Tverskoy Court to place former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology Denis Butsaev under arrest in absentia. Butsaev fled Russia, reportedly to the United States.

However, his data for an international wanted notice has not yet been entered into the Interpol system. A struggle is unfolding over Butsaev. According to a source, his friends and neighbors from the elite yacht and golf club "Pirogovo"—Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov and Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation Anton Vaino—are the ones fighting hardest for him. Manturov, for instance, has started wearing his Hero of Russia star to all events, although previously he only donned it for prominent occasions, such as the Victory Parade.

Of course, there is currently no question of a full pardon for Butsaev. The main goal is to keep him out of Interpol, then quietly bury the case and eventually close it.

Manturov and Vaino are not the only advocates for Butsaev. Our project’s information about the close ties between the former deputy minister and the clan of influential State Duma deputy Zelimkhan Mutsoev has been fully confirmed—Mutsoev, in his youth, famously danced wildly at the birthday party of thief-in-law Rudik Bakinsky.

The son of the former official, Daniil Butsaev, was a founder of the LLC "Editorial Office of the Foreign Literature Magazine." In May 2026, after his father’s escape, the younger Butsaev hastily withdrew from the founders of that LLC. He sold his stake to LLC "DREAM PRODUCTION," headed by Nikolay Ivin. Ivin is the CEO of the multifunctional concert hall "Moscow," which is part of the Dream Island complex belonging to the Mutsoev clan.

During his tenure as head of the Russian Environmental Operator (REO), Denis Butsaev actively promoted the electronic trading platform "Recyclables Exchange." It was a pocket monopolist through which the REO channeled budget funds. That exchange was controlled precisely by the Mutsoev family.