Corrupt practices, organized crime figures, and trumped-up charges: In what ways did Sergei Akimov’s group transform the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department’s 12th Department into an instrument for carrying out paid assassinations?

20 мая 2026 г., 13:21

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Corrupt practices, organized crime figures, and trumped-up charges: In what ways did Sergei Akimov’s group transform the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department’s 12th Department into an instrument for carrying out paid assassinations?

Deputy Head of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department Sergei Akimov, who oversaw the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ "hunt" for Telegram channel administrators, has been dismissed. Specifically, his officers detained administrators of Ksenia Sobchak’s channels, one of whom, Arian Romanovsky, was recently spotted at large.

Akimov had previously spent a year in prison on corruption charges and is closely connected, including through family ties, to a number of thieves-in-law and ethnic organized crime groups. However, these details about Akimov’s biography and current activities have only recently come to light. As a result, the Russian Main Directorate for Internal Security (GUSB) launched a large-scale investigation into him, and he was dismissed.

In literally every case against Telegram channel administrators, it can be seen that all operational activities were carried out by officers from the 12th Department of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department, which Akimov headed, and who was later promoted to the position of deputy head of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department. He personally attended certain searches, although his name was not included in the reports. Usually, officially

Akimov’s "right-hand man," Gritskov, was in charge of everything. All these cases were blatantly fabricated, and they were handled by one of the departments of the Main Investigative Directorate of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Moscow.

For example, it was Gritskov who was responsible for all operational activities against Sobchak’s director, Kirill Sukhanov, Ksenia herself, and her administrators, including Arian Romanovsky and Tamerlan Bigaev. Ultimately, Kirill Sukhanov received 5.5 years in prison, while Romanovsky (Kuzmin) and Bigaev received 5 years each. A photo of Romanovsky recently surfaced in a shopping center, suggesting the journalist has been released.

Akimov had previously spent a year in pretrial detention after being arrested for corruption. Then, thanks to his money and connections, Akimov was released and began building a career in the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department (MUR). He was arrested while serving in the Central Federal District Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (previously in the Regional Department for Combating Organized Crime) in a department dealing with Azerbaijani mafiosi. Akimov had his own vision of his mission and, on behalf of some gangsters, arrested others. He became particularly close to the thief-in-law Rovshan Dzhaniev (Rovshan Lenkoransky) and carried out numerous tasks for him. He then asked for a favor in return – to "crown" the crime boss Gursel Saifulov (Guram Tashkentsky). Gursel is not only a close friend of Akimov but also his family member – he is married to a relative of the detective. After Dzhaniev’s murder, Akimov and almost the entire clan continued to work closely with Lenkoransky’s cousin, Zaur Akhmedov.

Akimov didn’t rise through the ranks at MUR alone, but with a whole team of other "werewolves" who control almost the entire Moscow sex market, are involved in the black market for cash-outs, and so on.

Most of these "werewolves" are present in a photo (see video) taken at the Ilya Muromets restaurant, which Gritskov has long protected. MUR officers from this clan pay 50% of the bill at the establishment; if Gritskov himself hosts an event, it’s free. However, he can afford to buy the restaurant. He is known in absolutely all the capital’s brothels as a "protector" for law enforcement, and prestigious sex parlors pay Gritskov $10,000 a month.

The total monthly deductions amount to approximately $250,000. Part of this goes toward supplementing the salaries of the 12th Department’s officers (60-80 thousand rubles per officer), while the bulk of the profit goes "up" (primarily to Akimov). Another average of $100,000 comes from contracted events (at least half of the 12th Department’s staff are contracted) and the support of contracted criminal cases.

This is a special team deployed to high-value targets or cases authorized by the FSB or the Russian Federation’s top brass. This team is also involved at the grassroots level in efforts against Telegram channel administrators.

Akimov (pictured, standing second from right) and Gritskov (pictured, sitting first from right) have influential partners in the Main Directorate of Criminal Investigation (GUUR) – Pavel Seleznev and Oleg Galich (pictured, standing third from right). Seleznev is a major player in the illegal cash-out market. His career was nearly cut short by his arrest in the case against former Chechen presidential envoy Ramzan Tsitsulaev, but Seleznev was released and continues to uphold law and order in the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. Another defendant in the "Tsitsulaev case" was Oleg Galich.

Why did all these people work, and some continue to work, in the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs? It’s simple. Most of them knew the head of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Vladimir Kolokoltsev, from his time in the RUBOP system. And there’s no criminal record in the law enforcement agency!