Russia targets journalists investigating Putin ‘s peers

In Russia, police searched the homes of journalists and their relatives at the independent publishing house Projekt. The media publishes investigative material, and this time its staff was working on a publication that reveals the wealth of Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev.

The police officers have arrived at the home of the editor-in-chief of the publication Roman Badanin, as well as at the correspondent of the publication Maria Zholobova. Mikhail Rubin, the deputy editor-in-chief, has been detained near her house and taken to search his parents’ apartment.

There is no official explanation for these actions, but independent journalists are convinced that this is due to their planned publication on the Minister of the Interior and his possible links with criminal authorities. The publishing site has been temporarily down. This is another crackdown on journalists by the Russian authorities, who are investigating the activities of Putin’s contemporaries and the wealth of unknown origin.

The Russian media “Projekt” was established in 2018, its founder is the former editor-in-chief of “RBK” and the TV channel “Dožd” Roman Badanin. The media specializes in investigating corruption and crimes against officials in Russia.

Russian media reportthat the search of “Projekt” journalists is related to the case of St. Petersburg businessman Ilya Traber. This case of “defamation” was initiated back in 2017, when Badaņin and Žolobova were still broadcasting on the TV channel “Dozd”. a documentary about Traber and his business.

The title of the film was “Authority from the 1990s, with which Putin is known: Ilya Traber’s secret business empire, and how the president’s friends are connected.” The film said that in the 1980s Ilya Trabers was involved in the antique trade, but in the early 1990s he had already become a significant criminal authority in St. Petersburg.

Referring to information held by the French authorities, the authors of the film reported that Trabers was considered a member of the Tambov organized crime group; this group at that time controlled the operation of the port of St. Petersburg. Vladimir Putin was then deputy mayor of St. Petersburg, Anatoly Sobchak.

The authors of the film described Traber as “the only living criminal authority that Putin has known.” Trabers has turned to the authorities after the film was released, demanding that he be prosecuted for his “defamation”.

Investigating the Projekt concluded that the current Russian Interior Minister, Vladimir Kolokoltsev, may also have been linked to the criminal world in the 1990s. He had a friendly relationship with the businessman Pavel Zadador, who founded the alcohol trade network “Aroma World”.

“Project” the investigation concludedthat the members of the Kolokoļceva family own real estate worth more than two billion rubles (about 23 million euros).

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